


Enduring

by AikoIsari, OnixflametheBlue



Series: Bent, But Unbroken [3]
Category: Digimon - All Media Types, Digimon Adventure, Digimon Savers | Digimon Data Squad, Digimon Story (Video Games), Digimon World Series
Genre: Adventure, Alternate Universe, Family Issues, Friendship, Gen, Team as Family, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-14
Updated: 2017-11-22
Packaged: 2018-05-13 22:00:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 16
Words: 89,221
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5718631
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AikoIsari/pseuds/AikoIsari, https://archiveofourown.org/users/OnixflametheBlue/pseuds/OnixflametheBlue
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>You all know the story, right? Seven kids are summoned to another world, find weird monsters, and have to save the world? Well, that simple story has had a few complications. Let's meet these Chosen Ones. 01 Gameverse AU.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Someone is Having a Bad Time

Most tales begin with a 'once upon a time', or something cheery and safe. A day in the life that would soon change or turn upside down. This would not be one such tale, he knew, when it would be told later. This tale would begin with war, death and the end of an era. The day the last guardian fell while trying to fling his legacy into safety.

This day had long been coming, he knew. After escaping with the eggs, Digivices, tags and crests at the cost of the lives of everyone he worked with at the hands of these _jackals_ , after sealing away their creator and master away into the void from whence it came, using his precious daughter's crest as the seal to keep it from coming back, after humiliation after humiliation he subjected them to, Rekushin knew that the Dark Masters would come for them like the ferocious honey badgers they all were. It was, indeed, all they had left for themselves as far as he knew.

Hector, Arthur, Merlinus and his father were all holding them off as best they could, he could hear the explosions, the roars, the maniacal laughter as those titans fought, but Rekushin knew his Digimon friends could only hold them off so long. He held his daughter close, the young girl curled against him in his arms, as he ran down a long, winding tunnel that would take them to the lab There, their last hope awaited them. A portal to the human world, to be used only in the most dire of circumstances. He considered this the most dire of circumstances.

He broke into the room at last, bashing the door open and then kicking it shut. He leaned against it and took shuddering, frightened breaths, trying to steel himself for the thing that they would need to do. He steeled himself to live the last moments of his life.

He heard the clicking of fingers on a mechanical keyboard cease for the moment, his mother coming over to check on them both. She pursed her lips, for once without her black lipstick. Her golden, reptilian eyes had the same shadows as his did under him, and he could tell how clammy her pale skin was without her hands brushing against his face. She was just as afraid as he was. How could she not be?

"Are you two alright?" She asked the unnecessary question, acting as the mother she was and looking them both over for any obvious injuries.

"I merely need... To catch my breath..." Rekushin gasped, shuddering once more and squeezing his daughter close.

"Very well. And you, my dear Mirei?" The woman asked, turning her attention to the girl clinging to her father. She had two little Nyaromon under her other arm, both of which were squirming to go out and join the fight, despite being too small and helpless to do much, if anything, in that battle of titans she heard going on. The shudders of the earth around them gave way how pitched it was, despite being miles above them.

Bright purple eyes peeked out from short, barely controlled violet locks to look up at her grandmother. Another shudder around them made them squeeze shut for the briefest of instants, but she forced them open again. Mirei managed to nod, pressing her lips into a fine line so as not to make a sound, not to cry, not to burst out with the undeniable desire to fight. Even though it would be hopeless, even though her little cats were helpless and useless, she couldn't turn away from that desire. At least she would be with them at the end if she stayed.

Even so, her Papa had given her this mission, and for all her dismay, she refused to disappoint him on it.

"I-I'm all right," she finally managed to say. The Nyaromons squirmed again and she tried, feebly, to shush them, as she tightened her grip on her father. Mirei knew better than to let go now, it was too soon. it wasn't a very hard guess to know what was coming. She did not want to let him go. She didn't want to let any of them go, really. She closed her eyes and felt inside for the steady pulse of the Crest's power easily running in her, through her. It warned. It warmed. It wasn't of any comfort. In fact it made her tears harder to control.

"Good." The woman managed to give a small smile and brushed the girls bangs aside, kissing her forehead gently. "Precious littling... I'm sorry things have gotten to this. We're putting a terrible burden on you this day, my dear."

Mirei felt her lips twitch, wanting to smile, to reassure her grandmother that things would work out, that she would find a way. The truth was however, that she had no idea what was going to happen to her, or even if this world was going to accept her as her home did. The fear in the room wasn't exactly helping but everyone had good reason to be afraid.

She forced her smile, something she wouldn't have done before this, something she could have given freely and easily to one of the mother figures that she had. "This is... this is for the best. You had to do something." Oh, how those words _hurt_ with their reality. They had to do something or they would lose everything. The fact that it was her involved in it didn't make it any easier to do.

Her grandmother had to move away when Rekushin finally pushed himself off of the door, setting his daughter down. She kissed him too, on the cheek before moving away entirely, allowing her son to bring Mirei to the center of the room, where the portal machine sat. It was less of a machine as we knew it, being several large circles in the floor with carved numbers and code near the etched lines of the circle. A large, star shape ruby sat in the middle of all of this, one that faintly glowed and thrummed with a power that still mystified even Rekushin. His last two Digimon friends, a Dynasmon and Alphamon, were putting some finishing touches on this odd machine, shooting lasers into the floor from the gems imbedded in their hands and carving out the last few symbols needed to get the machine set for its intended purpose.

"Is it ready yet?" Rekushin asked, nervous, anxious and fearful. He didn't want to do this, but his hand had been forced - the Digivice and crest had glowed for his daughter, she was _chosen_. There was nothing more he could do but send her to the world that had rejected him and so many others, out of the reach of these villains - so that she could grow up safe and strong. Hopefully his brothers would be old enough to care for her by now, to bring her up right and prepare her for her destiny.

"Rek, lad, this isn't anythin' that I've ever done before," His Dynasmon friend answered, irritation thick in his heavily accented voice. He must have been really agitated if he was letting his accent go that uncontrolled. "In all my years as a Royal Knight, I never had tae do anythin' like this. We're technically goin' against everythin' Yggdrasil wants us doin', gettin' so involved like this. Especially makin' a portal to that human world. It takes time to set it up correctly."

"Time which we have never had much of," Alphamon added in a low, patient voice, shooting Dynasmon a chiding look. Not that this wasn't a tense situation, but was it really necessary to state that much of the obvious? "But, judging by the noise up there, I daresay we have even less of it than we did beforehand. Whelps, the lot of them."

Mirei drew closer to the device, barely remembering to keep her grip on the two Digimon. It was strange, apparently, to have two. Most only got one. It was a rarity, she supposed. Ivy made to nip at her fingers, startle her, in a bid for freedom, but Mirei ignored her. This was it. This was the plan.

She shivered, but not from cold.

Dynasmon didn't seem to catch their look, only muttered softly for a moment. "Aye. Aye, whelps who sealed away the Sovereign, fat lot of good those old twits ever did for this world." He sniffed. "Didn't even do anything right up to them getting thrown into the same void they be happily using to put away things they don't like. If it weren't for the fact these bastards didn't stop there, I rightly think they might've been heroes."

"That's going too far, Fafnir, and you know it." Rekushin chided him, still collecting himself and wiping sweat from his forehead. "Their major component parts were sealed away, and without those parts the whole could not be made again. I have no doubt they would have helped us if they could, but their first act in this war was making the ones we didn't have on hand sealed away from us. I know you don't like them, but don't demonize them in that way!" The contractions slipping from his mouth caused his daughter to gently cling to him again. He rested a hand in her hair.

"Ah... Sorry, lad." Dynasmon actually looked apologetic for once. "I... Well, I didn't mean it for _all_ of them, just the more contrite bastards. I'm... Well. I'm sorry, I guess. Nothing more I can say about that without sticking both my feet in my mouth, and it doesn't open that wide."

Rekushin nodded after a moment, having to collect himself and blocking out the rest of Dynasmon's ranting as he went on again. Getting back to the more important topic at hand, knew it took time to get the portal in working order, he knew that. He had remembered once being called a Hero of Time, by the very goddess who commissioned his Digivices, Tags and Crests. He was supposed to know all about how time worked even if he wasn't sure _how_ he was supposed to know. He hadn't known or cared why she had wanted those blasted items either, until his people had all been murdered for making them, but he had long since put away thoughts of revenge for the sake of survival. In many ways, he wished he could hate the goddess, hate Yggdrasil, but he didn't know if she had known they would be targeted for taking the commission in the first place. He squeezed his daughter's hand now, sensing her distress. "Mother," he began, turning to the pale woman, "Have the tags and crests been suitably hidden?"

"Yes, my _good for nothing_ brother sent me a message days ago, telling me he finally managed to find all of them a good hiding place. The tags were all placed in the different biomes of File Island while the crests were hidden as plain stone tablets in ruins dotting the continent of Server." The pale woman walked over to a machine that had several copies of the same device clipped to Mirei's belt holstered in a bunch of glowing, colored slots. She gave a snort as she began to pluck them out, one by one. "I should be thankful he's an otherwise dottering _idiot,_ these 'Dark Masters' paid no mind to the one eyed man with a cane setting up the wards to protect these items of power."

"They consider us a higher priority target." Rekushin didn't need to hazard that guess. He knew why. "Get the Digivices and the crests are useless." He frowned. "I'm leery of the tags being on File Island though. Wasn't that where we put the rest of the eggs, and is that not the domain of Devimon?"

" _Was_ the domain of Devimon." The woman reported curtly, walking back over to them and kneeling down to Mirei, handing her the seven other Digivices to put away. "My good for nothing brother is good for nothing, after all. He completely destroyed that whelp, along with Datamon and Myotismon on Server, even though we told him to be low profile."

Rekushin balked at her a moment. "... He took out their lieutenants and yet they still come doggedly after _us_?"

"We likely annoyed them to the point of true irritation." Alphamon ignored Dynasmon's mutterings: they knew he was ever so fond of them. Then again, they barely remembered a time when the dragon knight was calm in any sense of the word. He tended to prefer a consistent stability of irate. Yes, that word fit.

"Why couldn't we have helped _there_?" one of the Nyaromon whined. Her sister smacked her over the head with her tail, slightly difficult because they remained trapped in their partner's grip.

"Cause," the other hissed. "We're needed here, to help. I dunno about you, but staying behind sounds like it'll _bite_. We gotta go. Mirei needs us!" The words were supposed to be comforting in some sense. But they were little ones, so it was likely they were anything but.

Mirei took each device, slipping them into the bag over her shoulder. It was the first thing she had ever made for herself, and it had survived many small, playful adventures. She had to hope it would handle what came next. Digizoid was durable, but would it stay that way? She squeezed her father's hand, reveling in the warmth of it.

The woman gave Mirei a small, tired smile and once more kissed her forehead, giving her a brief, loving hug. "My dear Mirei, my granddaughter... Be brave for what's to come." She whispered softly into Mirei's untamed, curly violet locks. She reveled in the small body pressed against her for a moment before standing up and giving a meaningful look toward her son.

Rekushin hesitated for a moment. He did not want to do this. If he did it would only continue the horrible, horrible family tradition that his birth parents started, that perhaps his wife had continued. He didn't want to do it but... It would be his last chance to do this ever again. So he bent down, kneeling in front of his daughter and gently brushed her dirty cheek with his hands. He looked into her violet eyes behind her glasses, so much like her mother's (may the goddess rest her soul), her face still chubby despite the lean times they had come by recently, her violet locks in disarray, just like his... Goddess, he didn't want to do this to her, he didn't want to hurt her like this. But he did it anyway.

He drew his little girl into a hug and pressed her tight against him, trying to repress his own grief and sadness over what would have to come next, kissing the top of her head. "My darling," He managed to get out despite his throat wanting to close up. "My baby, my little Mirei... I'm so sorry for this. I didn't want this for you, I didn't want to be forced to do this. I'm so sorry that I can't protect you from those monsters. This is not the life I ever wanted for you, my darling. I'm so, so sorry I've failed you so badly."

Mirei felt her eyes water and didn't rub them. This made it worse, so much worse. She didn't want this, how could anyone accept this? Her kittens went quiet, going still as she managed to wrap one arm around her father's waist. Surely, if they tried together, they could at least pull him through with them, couldn't they? But the world would reject him, wouldn't it? They had told her that. It wouldn't let them both in together, and then they would die between worlds. She couldn't allow that... He wouldn't go anyway, none of them would. They were doing this for her sake, and for the sake of the world.

Telling herself that actually made it worse, come to think of it.

Still, she would relish it, this last, good moment with her family, at least, as many of them that remained here as possible. Mirei wasn't certain of her father actually failing her. He couldn't predict every evil or stop every boogeyman. He was going to do everything to protect her, wasn't that enough?

"I love you, Papa," she mumbled into his shoulder. _Even though you have to go, I love you._ "I'll do my best. I promise. I'll be as strong as I can." And she would. Her and her cats, and whoever was with her. She would find the other chosen ones and they would be fighting as hard as they could to create tomorrow, because there had to be one or nothing would matter anymore. "I'll miss everyone." That was also true but there weren't enough words to quite express _how much_ she would miss them.

"I love you too, my darling." Rekushin trembled softly, trying so badly not to cry. He couldn't help the tears running from his eyes, but he could hold back his sobs. This was already hard enough, they were already wasting time with this, but they needed to do at least this much. He could afford this for his darling daughter. "I love you so much. I know you'll do your best, I know you'll get strong. You are so strong already, I know you'll only get stronger. We'll miss you too. All of us." Even though there probably wouldn't be anyone left after this, _something_ tangible in this had to keep her light shining.-

Dynasmon had turned to watch them but after a moment turned back to his job and finally finished carving the Digimoji into the floor. "Done on my end, laddie." He told Alphamon. He knew that his 'commanding officer' didn't like going by gendered pronouns but honestly he never cared. He made sure to switch up the pronouns anyway. "You done yet? I wanna give the little miss my goodbyes, too."

Alphamon nodded, making the last marking and stepping away to join him. "Excellent," they said in a low sigh. "Now, to the rest of it. The time to put this to a close has arrived." They wanted to tease the others one last time, but it wouldn't be proper. Not until the little miss was too far gone with her cats, make it a true last hurrah. _I suppose I could have been summoned for much worse endeavors. All of it has been interesting._

_Still, if Yggdrasil permitted, they hoped they would be reborn to a more peaceful time._

Rekushin pressed one last kiss to his daughter's head. He needed to let go. Even if only so others would get to say goodbye, he needed to allow his darling to leave the nest (she's too young, she's far too young _damn_ the goddess for choosing her as a soldier if this was the only reason he hated her it was the only one he needed). His poor little girl…

Mirei nodded, unable to pull away out of sheer desire not to. Even though her father wasn't crying anymore, she could feel the small shakes in his shoulders, and the wetness of the shed tears falling into her hair. "I'll miss you all too." It was harder than she thought to keep the sobs from breaking her throat, but she was managing it. She could keep herself from breaking entirely for Papa. He needed a good memory of her, a last one to tell her Mama about when he saw her. Wherever they were, as long as they were together, if that was what happened, it would be enough.

She didn't want to pull away, but her uncle, her family friend, her grandmother, she needed to give them her farewells too. She needed good memories of them. They would keep her Crest burning, wouldn't they?

Dynasmon knelt beside them, and it was only then Rekushin let his daughter go. Dynasmon gently took the little girl in his arms and tucked her against his chest, just under his chin. It was the most comfortable place to hold the little one, for her sake. "Do I get some hugs too, little miss?" He asked softly, sounding like he was barely choking back emotion as well. "Gonna be a long time 'til I see ya next, after all... Ye might be all grown up with kids of yer own. I'll probably hardly recognize ye."

Even in this dour situation, the images her uncle brought to mind made the young girl wrinkle her nose. "Uncle," she whined, hugging him back. "That's _gross_!"

"Amen to that," the Nyaromons muttered together. They had stopped squirming now, merely settling on the floor. It was too late now, they knew. But if they could, they would offer their partner a few extra moments of privacy, of goodbyes. They liked these people, sure, but it wasn't the same as it was for her. Even their own mum wasn't as important to them as she was.

Mirei looped her arms around her uncle's neck and went very still, breathing softly, trying to memorize every bit of him that she could. She almost started when she felt Alphamon's hand gently rest on her head, but relaxed. Alphamon had only just been getting used to physical affection. If only they could teach them more, if only their family could have helped a little further.

The tears welled up and she gave her eyes a furious rub. She shouldn't be such a baby.

(Never mind that this made her family cry.)

Dynasmon chuckled softly, rubbing his chin on her head. It was the closest he could get with giving her a nuzzle, what with his horns and the sharp bits of his helmet. "Ye say that now, lass, but just ye wait. You'll be all grown up and having different thoughts than ye think now. Even if yer kittens will give ye hell over it." He rocked her gently, tutting softly. "Come now, little miss. No more tears. Give me a big smile so I can have something good and bright to think about in the times to come."

It always amazed Rekushin how much Mirei changed his irate, fierce friend into such a p _uppy._ He knew that term was deeply insulting when used to describe a dragon, but that was exactly how he acted around Rekushin's daughter. A big puppy that knew how sharp and un-fluffy he was so he was extra gentle around the new soul. In any situation this would have gladdened Rekushin's heart to see. Now... Now it made him so incredibly sad.

If it was an appropriate time, the little girl would have rolled her eyes. Yeah, she'd have those thoughts _t_ _hen_ , not now. Now they were just gross and adulthood and your parents holding each other too tightly. He was trying to cheer her up; she knew that. It was working too, though it really shouldn't have been. Her lips twitched.

"We will not!" protested the first kitten head, finally catching on.

"You will," muttered the second. "You always do."

"Oh and you don't?"

Mirei felt the giggle bubble out of her throat in that instant, hearing her kittens squabble and fight like things were going to be all right lifted her heart enough for it to ache. She smiled up at her uncle as wide as she could, making sure he could see it, memorize it for wherever he was going.

"There's my girl." Dynasmon's eyes smiled, since his helmet wouldn't allow him do it. He cuddled Mirei close once more, her tiny form almost disappearing in his large hands. He, like Rekushin, didn't want to let the girl go. He wanted to hold her forever, to make this moment freeze in time so that they wouldn't have to send her into a strange world all by herself and leave her knowing what would befall them. Well, no, not by herself, she had her kittens... But they wouldn't know what was safe and what wasn't. "I'm gonna miss ye, little miss. The memory of yer smile will help keep me goin' in the days tae come."

"I'll miss you too." Somehow, those words didn't seem strong enough, with or without the tears. "I'll miss all of you... I don't want to go." There, she'd said it. The words were out in the open and shameful. And yet, at the same time... "But I have to. I know I do. So..." She loosened her grip, but did not insist on being put down. Mirei already knew, even this young, that some things had to be done. "I'll be strong and I won't forget you. Even if... even when..." she swallowed the words and finished with "No matter what" instead.

The touching scene was shattered by the sound of a heavy impact. Everyone paused and turned to the door, watching the wall around it dent inwards.

"I believe our time is up." Rekushin's mother spoke up, instantly at the console.

Fafnir put Mirei down on the ruby in the middle of the circle, before going to stand in front of the door, arms spread and hands ready to catch an attack. Rekushin joined his mother at the computers, entering in the key codes.

"You can go with her, you know." His mother told him quietly, so that no one else could hear. "You don't have to send her alone. It'll take some doing but the energy required to send you both won't be much more than sending her by herself."

Rekushin glanced at her a moment, his face drawn. "... I have thought about it. I just might. But if I do, then they will search for a way into the other world even harder than they already are. We can still possibly escape this if I stay."

"We can escape," His mother told him softly. "Without having to worry about you. We'll keep them busy until the chosen ones come back to save this world. Don't... I know we have said all our goodbyes already, but please don't send your daughter away without her father." Rekushin looked at her a moment, his expression pained. She gave him a kind smile and pat his shoulder. "Please."

"If they give us time." Rekushin answered finally, watching the figures roll by on the computer monitors.

The door dented again and Mirei shivered at the thump of it. Alphamon waved a hand and the girl and her tiny Digimon were enveloped in a pale green bubble. "Stay there, little miss," they said in a low voice. "Just in case."

Before the girl could even nod, a strange hammer crashed through the door, followed by an absurdly large metal claw. The claw ripped the door off of its foundation throwing it aside like a dog's frisbee. In the back, a cheerful voice let out a hum.

"Oh I _do_ hope we weren't interrupting."

"Ye are, the lot of ye." Fafnir replied, channeling enough of his own power to send a minor shockwave back and those who dared intrude. "In fact, as yer a bunch of _genocidal scumbags,_ I not so politely request ye get yer lard filled abscesses off of our property, which includes that tunnel yer all just _dying_ to get out of."

 **"Your threat level is minimal, Royal Knight."** The creature with the claw boomed into the roomed, using that claw to smash down more of the wall so it could walk in. A saurian creature with giant canons on its back, made of metal and wiring. Mugendramon slammed a clawed foot on the ground as it began to walk into the room. **"You are a Data type. Most of us are Virus types. You will be destroyed handily."**

"That so, then?" The Dynasmon smirked. "Why not put yer money where your mouth is and _prove_ it?"

Alphamon almost sighed. "Dear, don't ever change. I'll miss your wit too much." They lifted their hands and spread out their hands. "In the meantime, no need to wait, I suppose."

A large metal serpent floated in, chuckling so low it reverberated on the walls. "Gladly." Without any hesitation, he fired for the little girl. Mirei ducked without thinking and rolled, grabbing her cats and Alphamon's eyes flickered, turning the attack to ice.

"Underhanded, but understandable," they deadpanned.

The other dark chuckle came again. "Come now everyone, can't we talk this out? Like adults?"

"Ach, like adults go 'round doin' what ye've been doing." Fafnir said, rolling his neck. "Ye lot have been throwin' a temper tantrum this entire time, lookin' fer us. Now ye found us, and if you all truly were as tough as ye wanna project ye wouldn't be wasting time posing or probin' us for weaknesses. Did the fight above really wear ye out that much? Must be a right shame to be locked away from what gave ye most of yer power then, don't it?"

 **"Enough of this."** Mugendramon said, its cannons beginning to light up. Apparently he didn't take too kindly to those words. **"Infinity** **Cannon."** Twin blasts of green energy were fired upon the Dynasmon, but he merely held his hand up caught the blast in his palm gem. It was instantly absorbed, giving the group of Dark Masters pause.

"Aye. I agree. I'm tired of yew pests constantly badgerin' us." Fafnir said. "So much so I wanna do the Little Miss an' her father a solid and rid the world of ye. _Dragon's Roar_!" He pointed his other hand at the flying serpent, and Mugendramon's energy blast came flying out of the palm gem at twice the power.

MetalSeadramon didn't even get the chance to roar in pain before he exploded, struck by the raw blast that managed to crash into the other side of the wall.

Alphamon couldn't contain a chuckle. Fun was already being had, it seemed. Very well then. They lifted their hands up and a magic circle began to form, the air rippling and trembling above their hands.

Piemon sighed. "Oh must we really?" Then he smiled and unsheathed two blades, dancing for Rekushin with a puppet at his heels.

"Oi!" Fafnir barked, aiming to stop them - but Mugendramon began to throw several salvos of his Mugen Cannon attack at him while his attention was taken away from the hulking saurian. He lifted his hand back into the air, absorbing the blasts as they came - but Mugendramon, true to his attack's name, just kept on firing it. Probably calculating that Dynasmon would eventually explode from containing all of them.

Jokes on him. Fafnir could just point his other hand and let loose all he was getting. It did stop him from going to Rekushin's defense, however. "LAD!" Fafnir barked. "NO TIME FOR FANCY, PROTECT THEM BOTH!"

Rekushin and his mother both looked up, both grim. They keyed in one last then, and the machine Mirei was curled on began to hum to life, the ruby glowing. Then both prepared for battle.

Alphamon scowled beneath the armor. This wasn't for fancy. This was a magical circle and after having used magic on this device it took time to- oh forget it. He had no sense of timing. The monster from within the seal dove down, rushing towards Piemon to strike him in the back. The clown turned and parried it with a blade but was not prepared for the weight of a fist right in his face. Alphamon moved between them, darting to the side and raising a blade from virtually nowhere. The next blast from Mugendramon nearly went astray, only to be carefully blocked.

Piemon actually laughed and unsheathed another blade. "How intriguing. You value the small one more than your lives. I wonder for what purpose." A handkerchief danced at the tips of his fingers.

Pinnocchimon managed to reach the woman and her son and brought his hammer down upon them with a manic laugh - which ended oddly when the woman reached out and grabbed the pole of the weapon just under the hammer head and stopped it dead in its tracks. The Mega blinked, shocked, before watching it get wrenched out of his grip. He tried to dodge when she took the hammer and swung it into the side of his face, but the blow was far too fast and obviously very powerful, because she sent him wheeling into a wall. The puppet didn't move after that.

Then she hefted the hammer and threw it at the distracted Piemon, aiming to bean him in his face with it. She grabbed her son and began to cart him over to where Mirei waited. She needed to get them both out of here _now_.

Piemon managed a narrow dodge. That was much too heavy a projectile for him to even think about letting it hit him. To do that would just be... _silly_. He made another slice with his sword and Alphamon moved carefully out of the way. Mentally, they cursed the tight quarters they were fighting in. They had to be careful to avoid bringing it all down on everyone's head, for the moment. Their monster rose and began swirling around Piemon, aiming to keep him from moving another step without serious injury. Piemon made to slice to the side and failed.

He smiled. Intriguing.

Mirei watched all of this with her heart somewhere in her esophagus. As she saw her grandmother drag her father closer to her, a glint of fiery light caught her eyes. She began to beat against the shield, trying to get them to _look_ _behind them_.

Rekushin saw his daughter's reaction and barely managed to look back before acting. Pinnochimon had gotten back up and brought out his reserve weapon, a gun that looked like a .44 Magnum Revolver. He had rocked the hammer back and was aiming for Rekushin's mother's back, his eyes narrowed in anger and a sneer on his wooden face. Rekushin immediately broke from his mother's grip on his arm and dove in front of her, summoning a shield made of ice from the water in the air in front of him.

The sound of the gunshot echoed in the chamber, pausing all battle for the moment.

To Rekushin's credit, he'd managed to summon a shield of thick ice on the level of glacial toughness to try and stop the blow, and it mostly worked. Mostly. The gun's ammo was explosive, however, and the gun was made with damaging Digimon in mind - the shield may have stopped the bullet, but the bullet exploded and shattered the shield immediately. The shrapnel from it flew everywhere, including into its summoner. Rekushin stumbled back into his mother for a moment, who caught him, staring down at the blade of foot long ice sticking out of his chest. His red robes soon became stained with his own blood.

Fafnir _roared_ , breaking the silence. His body became coated with his own energy and that which he'd stolen from Mugendramon's attacks, forming into the shape of a dragon so large it dwarfed Mugendramon. The robotic saurian began to shoot at him, again, but his Infinity Cannon did nothing and it only made him Fafnir's first victim. He was sliced in half by Fafnir's claw before exploding from all of his various fusion and fuel storage cells rupturing from the attack.

The dragon Fafnir had become turned its three eyed visage over to Pinnochimon next, who stared up at him in shock as his gun dropped from numb fingers. He began to hold up his hands in surrender but Fafnir wasn't having it. The large head of the thing Fafnir had become lunged down to swallow the smaller Mega up and destroyed him instantly.

Mirei's scream was so quiet, it may have been more accurate to call it a whimper. The tears froze over her face as the sound continued from her mouth, almost endless in how it started to echo. The air rippled, beginning to crystallize and chill. The small pieces of ice didn't seem useful at first, but they grew, sharper as the sound died out. Ice crawled in thin veins over the remains of the walls, spreading. The rest, suspended, then flew forward, right at the clown.

He dodged them all of course. It was a very emotional attack from a very inexperienced child. It wouldn't have hit even if they had been right at his nose. It was still intriguing. His lips curled further. "Oh well, that is a treat. You've taught her well, _boy_." He sneered at Rekushin's bleeding form, the smell taking the edge off of his... irritation. "You are such a stubborn lot. Why don't we end it with this? Give me the girl, your darling will not be harmed, I swear it, and I'll leave."

From her curled up form on the floor, Mirei started to shiver.

Rekushin, to his credit, continued to stand. His mother wanted him to lay down, to let her fret, but he refused. He remained standing, even though the chill of the ice stabbed into his body sapped at his physical strength. Something else was replacing it. Something he hadn't felt in a long time. Something that stirred in him even as Piemon taunted him. After all, Fafnir was right... For all this blow that had been dealt to him, three of Piemon's fellows had just been destroyed. They were posing, his father and their friends had weakened them this much. They wouldn't need to DigiDestined soon.

What stirred in Rekushin's breast was **Determination**.

Rekushin chuckled, coughing roughly. Blood leaked from his mouth as he smiled. "You don't know parents all too well, do you?" He asked, the question rhetorical and taking the smile right off Piemon's face. "That choice is never an option. Especially not when you made this same offer when Gennai and my wife were in your 'loving care.' You wanted the tags, the crests, the Digivices and all of the eggs... My answer is going to be the same as back then." Rekushin slowly raised up his hand as he pulled something from his pocket. In his hand was something that looked almost like a dagger fashioned like the Omega Sword that Omegamon had been proud to call his once upon a time and had the screens and buttons that looked like those of a Digivice at the hilt. "If I only had this back then... Then my friend, my wife, all of those poor children... I could have saved them from you. But now? Now, when my daughter is about to be safe from you monsters, when everything we have worked for is in our grasp... _Now_ , all I can say is... _Biomerge, Activate_."

The screen lit up and suddenly Rekushin and Fafnir became balls of light that crashed together, forming into a figure that was both armored, humanoid and scaled. White armor covered the new form almost from head to toe, the only things not covered were a blue scaled tail and the beings hands, which were covered in blue scales. Golden trim and spikes were on key points of the new being's armor, such as on the shoulders, gauntlets, knees and feet. Great white wings flared from the new being's back and red eyes glared at Piemon. In his hands was a much larger version of the Omega Dagger Rekushin had, only lacking the Digivice components. The Omega Sword glimmered with a light that seemed to come from within it.

"You will have to try harder than that." Imperialdramon Paladin Mode said before launching himself at Piemon to thrust his blade at the demon clown.

Piemon barely avoided it, swords snapping. He moved to the side, frowning immensely. "Well, that's rude," he said, taking advantage of his smaller size. "You can always make another one. I'll even give her back to you, safe and whole, just changed." He ducked and weaved as Alphamon stepped back, moving towards the machine.

"Rekushin," Alphamon intoned. "We don't have much longer. Hurry." They gave a glance to Arachnemon and then turned to their opponent, just in case.

Piemon drew his other two swords and laughed. It would be his final sound.

Imperialdramon Paladin Mode nodded at Alphamon, his red gaze furious as he glared down Piemon. "Very well. My most powerful attack, then." The armor on his chest opened, revealing a cannon that poked out and began to charge up an attack. Piemon barely had a second to think 'oh crap' before a blast of dark matter shot from the cannon and consumed him. Piemon screamed as the energy tore him apart before he, as well, exploded into glowing pixels. After a moment, the blast ended... And Piemon was gone.

Imperialdramon fell to one knee after that, glowing and splitting into Rekushin and Fafnir as he degenerated. The man was still injured and Fafnir had to hold him to keep him standing. The dragon knight grabbed the man up and brought him over to Arachnemon, Mirei and Mirei's kittens. The woman was gently petting Mirei's hair to calm her down but... Well. It was obvious no good was being done there. The air was still freezing cold.

Fafnir gently placed Rekushin down near them. The man weakly reached over to hold Mirei's hand. "My darling..." He coughed, smiling at her. "The demons... They're gone now... There is no need for you to cry anymore…"

Mirei's eyes watered. "But..." she fished for words and failed, continuing to sob as she gripped his hand tight. "You're not a demon," she managed. "You can't go. Not now! Not when we've... not when you won... please, please Papa…" She had thought she was prepared, thought she had managed to steel herself just a little, but now it was real. Now it was happening.

Rue looked up Arachnemon. "Will it do him any good if we take him through with us? Can we save him, do you think?"

Alphamon silently moved to the machine, beginning to add what energy they had remaining.

"We can't keep him here, anyway." Mirei's grandmother said, petting her son's hair now. "We're too far away from help. Her uncles, my other sons... They wait for you on the other side. They can help him, they can save him. So yes, we'll have to send you with him."

"I'm gonna go too." Fafnir said. Arachnemon snapped her head up to look at him. "I can help power things from here. But I ain't leavin' them, not like this. I couldn't keep him safe before, I need to be able to keep him safe here." He chuckled bitterly. "Mugendramon gave me more than enough energy to help with this, so that won't be a problem."

Rekushin smiled at that, brushing his daughter's cheek. "You hear that, my darling...? Papa's coming too..." He was too tired to protest now. It seemed that his mind was made up for him, anyway.

Alphamon nodded their head. "I will as well. Fafnir will want to be at Rekushin's side more often than not. Someone will need to guard the little miss and her reckless little cats."

"Hey!" Ivy managed to protest, only to be hit with Rue's tail.

Mirei managed a tearful smile and nodded, holding onto his hand as tight as she could.

"... I guess it's decided, then." Arachnemon sigh, pressing a kiss to both Mirei and Rekushin's heads. "I love you both. Take care of each other. And don't you dare die, son."

"I think I learned enough on how to be stubborn from you and father, mother." Rekushin laughed tiredly. "Go. Get us to safety... We don't know when their armies will come here as well..." Arachnemon nodded She ran off to the console and waited for Alphamon to get into the circle as well, both they and Fafnir beginning to feed it. She began to enter the final few figures and then, with a heavy heart, activated the sequence.

She watched the ruby flash, and then everyone in the circle disappeared after a concussive sound of the world tearing echoed in the ruined chamber.

In the silence, in the aching loneliness, she wept.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello there! So I'm reposting this on my account/updating the edits on Ao3. I'm writing chapter 11 as we speak. So I'll be updating weekly to keep us ahead of the game.
> 
> For anyone who is confused, Onix is too busy to cowrite this right now, so he will be helping me out with it in terms of betaing instead. So these first ten chapters may seem a little familiar. Hold onto your hats though! It's going to start diverging fairly early as I edit some things. Now, please review! We really do appreciate it as writers.
> 
> Challenges: Season Rewrite, What If, and Diversity WRiting M20.


	2. And Now For Something Completely Different

"Oh no… wait, _don't_ -!"

It wasn't the first time something like this had happened to the speaker of these words. Heck, it wasn't even the tenth. But really. This was a bit insane. She had just been taking a shortcut through the park from the store. That had literally been it. However, for young Tsukino Sayo, getting followed by baby animals was a regular occurrence. She had no idea how or why, and she liked little creatures, but this just got out of hand. Hence why she was hurrying as carefully as she could back to the apartment with baby ducks in tow, if only to get them out of the street. She didn't want one to be squashed in the crowd, no matter how unwanted their following might be.

What were baby ducks doing in the middle of the city anyway? They had to have a mama, right?

"I'm not your mama," she tried to tell them as she walked, but the little fuzzies refused to listen, cheeping out in response and chasing her in their little waddles. Sayo brushed her purple hair out of her eyes. She needed her hat, she really did. Her hair didn't know how to behave itself without it anymore… wait that wasn't important. She made it all the way to the gate of the apartment complex and fumbled for her key, mumbling absently about silly small animals and pheromones, making sure to hoist the plastic bag out of reach. She knew what ducks could do to bags.

By the time she had gotten the gate open, it was too late to dash for her front door without them. They were clustered all over her feet, chirping excitedly.

Sayo sighed and hid her face in her hands. "Not again…"

Well, at least she wasn't running late.

"Sayo?" The voice of her older twin brother rang out from behind the gate. "That you? Sounds like you've got visitors again." He strolled over and moved to the side when she opened the gate, letting her and the little ducklings in. He looked remarkably like her, as twins were wont to be, even fraternal ones like them. The only differences beside their gender was the slightly paler color of his skin, the lighter color of his eyes and the blue-black of his hair. He even wore clothes in the same colors she did.

It was their mom's influence, probably.

He sighed, hands ruffling his own hair as he looked at the cheeping fuzzies. "What are we going to do with them?" He asked, leaning down to keep them from following his sister into their apartment any further. They didn't need any more tiny animals in there. "Mama said she'd kill us if we brought anymore home…" And she probably would.

Sayo sighed as she went inside, putting the bag down onto the table and taking out the last minute additions to her bag and Yuki's flu medicine (Silly girl got hyper with sleep cough medicine and the last thing anyone needed was a hyperactive, sick Yuki.) She rubbed her eyes, trying to concentrate on the ducks as well as everything else. It had been another night of no sleep for her, she was starting to get smudges The cheeping outside their door was a bigger priority.

"Do you have a spare box in your room?" she finally asked, knowing he could hear her through the door. "I had to use mine for the puppy." She really needed to figure out what it was that caused animals to follow her and get rid of it because this always happened. During winter was the absolute worst because then they were _everywhere_. "I can ask Yuugo-kun's mom to take them to the shelter when she comes to take me to the bus." At the mention of _the bus_ , her face fell a little, even as she smiled. She was going to miss having her brother on the trip with her, if only because she wanted him there.

Her brother came into the house, arms full of wriggling balls of fluff. Young Tsukino Dougal knew how delicate baby animals were so he was making sure to be extremely gentle while holding the wiggling ducklings. "I think I might." He said, beginning to head for his room. He, too, didn't look all that happy about staying, but someone needed to take care of their sick baby sister while the parents were at work. "So the camping trip starts today?"

Sayo reached out and took a few ducklings so he could open his door. They chirped and butt against her collar and she tried not to giggle outright. Her eyes brightened a little. "Yeah, today is August 1st... it... it should be all right." She hoped it would be, anyway. She knew a couple of people going... they would make it a lot easier all things considered. Her and social were practically an antithesis, mostly because people in general tended to make her anxious. Again, except for the tiny ones. It couldn't be helped. The taller they were, the more they could loom. And sometimes, even that didn't matter.

"Ducks," mumbled a half asleep voice from another doorway. They cheeped at the sound.

Sayo turned and sighed, looking at the white tuft of hair peeking out from under a large quilt that had been haphazardly turned into a robe. "Yuki, go back to bed."

Yuki pouted. "I'm okay! Onii-chan should go with you!"

"And my baby sister should go back into bed." Dougal said, coming back from inside of his room. He passed the box that held the ducklings to Sayo, allowing her to place her ducklings into it before heading over to their little sister. He tapped her on the head gently several times, looking down at her with halfhearted annoyance. "Someone has to stay and watch you, Yuki. Mama and Papa are counting on me to take care of you. Sayo wants to see her friends, and I hate most of the people going on this trip anyway."

Yuki pouted and covered a sneeze with her hands. Sayo wrinkled her nose as she put the ducklings in the box and offered a tissue. Yuki would have ignored it if this wasn't gross. She blew her nose. "Onii-chan needs to stop hating people!" she informed him with a big-eyed stare. "It getshim all pruney!"

Sayo muffled a giggle as she took the box from her brother. "Go back to bed and stop fussing, Yuki." She shot her brother a look. It was probably going to come down to tickling her and carrying the stubborn little waif back to bed. She was like that.

"No!" Yuki stamped her foot for emphasis. She wouldn't have been able to get away with that if Mama was home.

Sayo wracked her memory to see if Yuki's first word was 'no'. It probably was, followed by 'daddy' and 'kitty'. (That one was all her fault.)

Dougal rolled his eyes but took the hint, grabbing his sister up and taking her back into the room and threw her back onto the bed. He grabbed her legs and began to tickle her tiny feet, "If you don't want to rest I can do this instead." He offered the squirming girl, grinning at the squeals of laughter he pulled from the sick girl's throat.

Yuki squealed and tried to escape, but it was futile, she was too small and on a bed. You could never escape older brothers from there! She still wasn't happy about this, but she guessed him being here wasn't too bad.

Sayo laughed softly at the pair of them and finished with her bag. She picked it up and tested its weight with the ducklings. They all cheeped at her and she pouted. "Not your mama," she informed them again. The fuzzies made a noise, likely of protest. They were always good at that.

She sighed in defeat. _I'm done for if this happens at camp._

* * *

Sunlight fluttered in gently from the bedroom window, shining down on bed sheets that were so pristine as to not have been touched. Rapid scribbling filled the quiet bedroom, a desperate atmosphere radiating from the young girl at the writing desk in the shared bedroom.

A young blond haired girl stared, eyes squinting, at her test as she wrote all of the answers to it. Bags were under her red eyes from staying awake all night, as she had been for the past several nights. Her fingers jittered as she wrote and she let out an unladylike curse as her pencil finally broke from the pressure she was putting it under. She jammed it into her sharpener, waiting impatiently for the machine to do its job. Every second she waited was a second against her, against her time. Her parents would punish her again, would berate her for not finishing as fast as her brother, for not getting as many answers right as he brother. She needed this. She needed to do this as soon as possible. Time was almost up; she had almost failed them both.

Young Keren Lichtenberg was in dire straits. She was on a timer. Her parents wouldn't let her or her brother go on their trip unless she got a ninety-eight percent in this test, the last of the homework her parents had decided to give them both before they left on their trip, the trip they had fought tooth and nail to go on, she wouldn't get to go. They wouldn't get to go. If it was just her it wouldn't be so bad, but it wasn't just her but also her brother. She knew how much her brother had been looking forward to this trip, to being around other actual kids, she couldn't fail him now. She just couldn't.

Her pencil sharpened once more, she instantly went back to scribbling out all of her answers. If only her parents didn't change the questions on her test every time she failed... It was like they didn't _want_ their children to go anywhere. Like they didn't want their _favorite punching bag_ to go. As well as their little brain that won them so much praise, _how had they raised such a smart boy?_

Tears didn't even sting her eyes at that point. She barely acknowledged those thoughts, merely continued to write down her answers.

Outside of the shared bedroom, Koh Lichtenburg watched the stove. He paid no attention to the clock, or to the tension of the room opposite the kitchenette. It wasn't that it didn't affect him, or even that he didn't care. Consider it like the minor adjustment of the temperature of a hot room. You just got used to it, after a while. He brushed his orange mess of hair back from his face, adjusting the eggs and looking at the rice cooker. Its timer counted. He tapped his foot.

As always, at this time of day, their parents were nowhere to be found. Thank god. They wouldn't be home for another hour. They wouldn't be home until Keren had finished her last test so Koh could look it over, lord it over the masses that the little brother could grade his sister's test. Honestly, it would have been less disgusting if it weren't for the fact that he was half-certain they didn't even know _what_ they put on the tests to begin with.

He flipped the omelet, still tapping his foot to a mindless rhythm. The sunlight passed over him as he walked by for plates, illuminating the two bags left nearby. Like most of the tiny world they lived in, Koh often chose to ignore their barely-used state. When you were stuck somewhere long enough, you ran out of surprises.

Koh plated the meals and put them on the table. She was almost done, he imagined. Therefore, he could shove his silly sister into a chair and make her eat. Whatever the answers were on the stupid test, they were going. He would fudge them for her if he had to, if only to get her away from these _education tyrants._

Five minutes after he had finished their food, the girl came from their bedroom, pale and drawn and already expecting to fail, like she had done countless times throughout the weeks leading up to this. She carried her test paper as if it was both the most precious thing in the world and as if it would scald her if she held it wrong. She looked like she wanted to cry and scream and tear this paper to shreds, like she _knew_ would be done to her in only a few moments time.

Keren said nothing, didn't even look at her brother as she stepped silently up to him, presenting their last chance at freedom, if only for a few weeks. "I..." She cleared her throat for a moment, to get out the waver in her voice out. "I'm... done, Koh."

Koh watched her for a minute or so, observing her haggard state. His lips lifted from their disinterested line into a small, warm smile. "Thanks," he said, gently lifting it from her hands. "Go eat and shower. I'll leave this for those two when I'm done." He reached out and patted her head gently. "Don't worry," he said. He meant it too. If it really wasn't great, which he doubted, he would just switch their names on the top and by the time the parents would be back, they would already be gone. They wouldn't be able to say anything if he got the bad scores, except fret that their _brain_ was drying out and that this trip would be good for him to recalibrate.

He led her to sit down and sat on the other side of the table. Koh clicked his pen and scanned the questions first. His eye twitched. These were some absurd scenarios. How would anybody be able to answer these?

You _can, you walking computer,_ sneered a voice in his head. He ignored it and quietly set to work. His eyes flicked up towards his sister. "Go on. you need the fuel. The bus is going to be hell."

The girl robotically sat down, worry and fear the only thing keeping her from flopping into her food. She took her knife and fork - western utensils, they were home schooled and never went out so they never learned how to eat using chopsticks, their parents considered it an _unimportant skill_ even though the rest of the population of the country they currently lived in used them - and began to dig in. Or at least try. Her hands were shaking so much from exhaustion and the remaining adrenaline in her system it was hard for her to cut up her food into easy to chew bites.

That was when the tears began to sting her eyes, that was when the entire weight of what their parents were putting her through for a simple vacation, for some time out of the _damned apartment_ came crashing down on her and it was all she could do to not throw everything to the floor and start crying. Keren didn't understand why, why couldn't they be like normal children, why did they push her so hard to keep up with her brother, why? It hurt, this all hurt, she was so frayed she couldn't even _eat_ correctly.

If Keren were a more vindictive girl, she would hate her parents. She knew they were only doing what they thought was right, but they offered no respite, they only chided her when she couldn't keep up and pushed her harder. Added on to this was the weight of being the older twin and not being able to do her duties as the older sister because they kept on grinding her down. She was failing Koh and failing her parents and failing herself, why was it all she could ever do was _fail_?

Koh waited quietly, still grading each answer with the meticulous care well rooted in machines. His meal sat untouched to the side of him. He often joked to himself that he didn't actually need food because his body used solar power like a good little robot. He never said this to their parents or to Keren, they'd not like that, but he thought it, and it was hidden in the notebooks he left in careful nooks and crannies.

He continued to grade on autopilot, watching his sister cry. He paused, debating internally. He didn't want to show her pity, but he didn't want her to think she was alone, either. Either way, this was an awful situation, wasn't it? They needed to get out of here.

He went back to grading, using his other hand to push a tissue packet over. In the other part of his mind, he thought carefully. There was another reason he wanted this trip. This was a country that relied on a family taking care of itself. That wasn't being done here. So, he needed to see about getting some help, if for his sister's sake.

The way he saw it, there was no age hierarchy. They had to take care of each other. He did what he could to keep her healthy, away from their tyrants, and she worked her ass off so he could do fun things, people things. It was a balance. They needed that.

He tuned back in to the finished paper. Koh rubbed his eyes and scanned it closely. A small smile twitched his lips and he rose from his chair. He went around and hugged her, chair and all. "Full points, sis," he finally said. "You're amazing."

At first, Keren didn't give any sign she heard her brother besides going very, very still in his arms. Then her tears came back full force and she was desperately clinging to his shirt, wetting it with her tears as she buried her face in his chest. Whether she was crying from relief or the remains of her desperation she wasn't sure. Her brother could easily be lying, he could be getting ready to cover for her, he could have. But at the moment, she didn't care. Even if he was lying, it was for a good purpose.

They'd be able to get out of the house, away from these education monsters who called themselves their parents, even if only for a little while. They'd be free. It was all she could ever want. It would be all she would want for as long they lived under the same roof as their parents.

Koh stroked her hair and smiled and sighed in relief on the inside. Good. She had done it. Full score, all by her lonesome. Those trick questions were stupid, he made a note to himself to comment on it, twist them over it. He could be a charismatic little twit when he wanted to be.

Still. It was for a good cause. If he had it his way, they wouldn't have to stay here with these people much longer, period.

Koh snatched the tissue box and pulled away enough to wipe her face, placing the test back on the table. "Come on now, gotta eat and clean up. You can lean on me on the bus." He grinned playfully at her. "Don't deny you're gonna. You don't want to sleep through the whole day, right?"

She tried to smile. Even if her eyes weren't almost dead looking anymore, her attempts never quite reached them. She took the tissues from her brother, still shaky, giving a wet laugh. "I-I'll sleep on you all d-day if you don't cut it out, Koh." She threatened without much bite.

Keren began to try and eat her food, even if she wasn't particularly hungry at the moment. Fear and relief were coiling too tightly in her gut, the conflicting emotions still making her shake and nearly miss her mouth when she actually got some small enough to stuff in there. When she did, she didn't even taste it, though she knew it would have been perfectly delicious when she wasn't nearly worked to death and stressed out as she was.

Koh smiled a little more. "Duly warned," he said soberly. "I'm going to go change. There's plenty of hot water for you." This would be better for her than it would for him. She needed people. She needed this freedom. He gave her one last head pat and went to their shared room to clean up.

He slipped his laptop into its case. He would get laughed at, he didn't care. If it helped, it helped. He cleaned Keren's desk and his own, moving methodically to change. He hoped this trip helped her relax. They both needed it.

* * *

The sudden lack of steady dripping from the coffee maker made one of the people in the kitchen take pause. He looked over and reached for his mother's favorite mug.

"The coffee's done."

Kamishiro Yuugo reached for the pot and poured a cup, wrinkling his nose at the smell. His black hair covered his ears and briefly his eyes as he stirred cream into it, wrinkling his nose. If only his mother didn't like the stuff, it would make his life so much easier. Though a lot of things would at this point, he guessed.

He picked up the cup and offered it to his mother as she entered the room, adjusting the last creases of her dark suit. Rie smiled and took it, mussing his hair. He pretended to be annoyed, pouting as deeply as his cheeks could muster. She laughed.

"Sorry, you're a big boy who doesn't like his mother's affection."

Crap. He was in a bind now, wasn't he? "I just brushed my hair out," he finally said, settling on a medium. "Yuuko is still in the bathroom. By the time she gets out we'd be late."

"Sayo isn't going to care about your h air, sweetie," she informed him, sipping her coffee.

Yuugo shot his mother a look of bemused exasperation. "Not you too." Everyone at school, everyone they would meet on the bus today, _everyone_ said this sort of stuff. "She's just going to worry, that's all. She has enough to worry about without me in the picture."

"I know, I know." She mussed his hair again. "If anyone is going to have the heart attack, it's you."

"Mom!" He didn't mean to whine but seriously! She needed to stop!

Rie giggled. She couldn't help it. Her son made such amusing faces when he was embarrassed. She gave him a forehead kiss. "Sorry, I can't help myself. Your sister is taking too long."

"I am not..." As their mother spoke, Kamishiro Yuuko breezed by with a perfectly identical pout to his own on her face. Silly dominant genetics. "Papa… Father left his tie on the towel rack."

Rie chuckled. "No wonder he looked so flustered this morning." She took another sip of coffee. "Better pick it up, Yuuko. We still have to pick up Sayo-chan, right?"

"R-Right!" She hurried into their bedroom. Yuugo laughed, pulling his white sweater over his arms. Sometimes being consistently cold really sucked. He went to their bags, picking up the two of them experimentally. He puts Yuuko's bag back down after a few seconds, grimacing. "Well, I think she has enough snacks."

Rie went to see, picking it up herself. She laughed. "Your sister does know she has to carry this to her cabin, right?"

"Probably not." Now he really hoped he was in the same cabin as her. As much as he knew she needed to make more friends, this probably wouldn't help. Yuugo sighed. "I'll go put these in the car." Their family rarely used their car, mostly because they didn't need to. The trains and their feet were enough transportation. But for events like this, the vehicle came in handy. "Is breakfast almost done?"

"Just about." Rie smoothed his hair back down easily with her thin fingers fingers. Something in him made him turn and hug her. He didn't know what it was, but she was his mother after all. Reflexes kicked in without much fanfare and she hugged him back.

Maybe she sensed it, but seconds later, a dressed Yuuko joined the group hug. "Sudden affection everywhere," Rie mused with a chuckle. "What do I do to deserve this?"

"You're our mom." Yuugo raised an eyebrow at her, muffling his voice. "And Dad's busy, so…"

"You'll just have to tell him goodbye for us," Yuuko finished. "We'll take lots of pictures, I promise."

"As you should." Rie sighed and pulled her children into a more sensible hug. "I'm sorry about your father. He means well."

Yuuko mumbled something assenting. Yuugo frowned but did not protest. He meant well, their father. He just… well, meaning well didn't always mean much in the grand scheme of things. Their mother had the same problem. He loved them both for it, somehow.

Their comfort was interrupted by the sound of the phone ringing. Yuugo pulled himself away and Rie squeezed Yuuko's shoulder.

"Go brush your hair before it poofs up again, okay?"

Yuuko made a little noise of dismay, and did as she was told.

Rie smiled and straightened. This would be good for her kids, she hoped. Time spent outside of school, a chance to see the outdoors with less likelihood of being eaten by it, even. She just had to hope the weather held.

* * *

"Nope! Nope! Nope!"

The speaker's insistence was incredibly emphatic, wild and annoyed, well, as much as this person could sound annoyed on a regular basis. Shinomiya Rina adjusted her tank top under her wide open hoodie, grinning to the other people in the room with a slightly twitching eye.

"Camp is gonna be boring!" she said with a shrug. "I can do biology here! And Uncle Spence and the old man are already doin' something cool. Marcus and Krissy are goin' anyway, so what's the big deal?"

It wasn't that Rina didn't like camping or anything. She loved it outside. But she had a few manga left on her bedside and she wanted to finish them off and return them already! Besides, her bed was comfy! She needed it. It wasn't like going would be all that fun, even with these idiots. Also the forest might haunt her dreams with ghosts or something. Ghosts were weird.

One of her friends, Taiga - no surname name given - laughed softly, nervously at the annoyed twitch his best friend developed around his right eye. He adjusted his goggles, resting in his ash gray locks. "You sure, Rina?" Taiga asked once more, just to be sure. "We're all going to be gone for about two weeks. Won't you get lonely?"

Rina sobered, a sight that was unusual to anyone who didn't know her at least somewhat well. Her 'siblings' knew she could do it at a drop of a hat if she had to. She dropped back onto the bed with a flourish. It was a good question, to be sure, but Rina was used to it, loneliness. Hers was pretty specific. "Nah," She waved a flippant hand. "I'm cool. I got stuff I can do. I'll just be jealous when you get back."

Taiga wilted a little. "If you're sure..." He said, sounding a little uncertain.

His best friend, the blond boy wearing glasses - Nikolai Petrov, called Niko for short - waved his hand, sighing. All his annoyance faded when she turned somber. "It's what she wants, man. You always say not to force people to do something if they're set on doing something else." He stuffed his hands in his jean pockets and turned to walk out of the room. "We'll bring you back a frog to dissect or something, Rina. See ya later."

"Bye, sourpuss! Smile while you're there for me!" She waved at Niko's back. She looked over at Taiga and went over, squeezing him in a hug. "I'll be fine!" Rina patted his goggled head. "One of us needs to be here and see the discovery of the century and stuff! You better not be depressed without me!"

Taiga nodded slightly, giving a hug back to his friend. Unlike Niko, he didn't mind physical affection, even from their best lady friend. "Don't worry. I won't. Niko promised to keep me amused by pulling tons of pranks on people." He smiled. "You take care too, got it? No becoming a sad sack while we're gone."

Rina rolled her eyes. "Like that's gonna happen!" She pulled away. "Go on, get the brats outta here. Imma catch up on my manga!" She sat back on her bed and smiled. It was hard to be sad in a place like this anyway, a peaceful place like this one. Sure, she could worry, but she couldn't be sad. That would be counterproductive, right?

"Fine, fine. You do that." Taiga snickered, shaking his head and straightening out his black sweat shirt. "Don't spoil anything for me when we get back, okay? Some of those I follow, too!" With that, he left the room as well. He went to go find his other best friend, moving away from a hyper six-year-old Kristy who came dashing through the halls to get something in her room that she forget.

Outside, Marcus Daimon sat on his bag, face in something like a pout. He just wanted to get going already. Kristy was clinging to the walls; she was so excited. Rina wasn't interested in this trip, big deal! She had her reasons... which she would never tell anyone, but still.

"Hey squirt." Niko had snuck up behind the young boy three years his junior, planting his hand none too gently on the little boy's head and tussling his red hair. "Turn that frown upside down. We're gonna get going as soon as our dads are here."

Marcus yelped and reached to pinch Niko on the wrist. He'd rather punch the guy to be honest but that would get him in trouble. Again. "Good," he muttered, eventually letting go. "You're holding Kristy, or we're never getting in the car."

"Yeah, yeah, me and Taiga will take turns doing that." Niko rolled his eyes, giving Marcus a light shove in return. "Speaking of, hey bro."

Taiga came out of the building at that moment to see Niko shaking out his wrist while sitting on the front porch of the Daimon home, with the first born son of the family. He came to sit on their other side, adjusting the strap on his duffel bag.

"Hey." Taiga replied softly. "I take it your little sis is excited, Marc?" He asked the younger boy.

At the sound of Kristy yelling something about a hair tie, Marcus grunted, ignoring the shove. "Bit of an understatement, think she'd never seen a pine cone before."

"Don't spoil the fun!" Kristy leaped, almost on top of them. Marcus hopped to the side and she landed on the bags with a heavy 'oof'. "You weren't supposed to dodge," she informed him.

"Oops," he quipped, mussing her hair and pulling her into a headlock. "Stop trying to break people! Dad'll get mad again."

Taiga laughed at the sibling antics while Niko rolled his eyes at the two children. "Sheesh, can't you two do anything without rough housing?" The blond asked the younger kids, adjusting his glasses slightly.

"I don't know, reminds me of us when your Dad took me in." Taiga smirked at him. Niko glowered at him.

"That's different and you know it." The blond shot back.

"Not really, 'bro.'"

"Don't make me hit you."

"You'd only be proving my point, man."

"We can't all be as boring as you," Marcus added with a smirk, now tickling Kristy and laughing at the helpless giggles streaming from her mouth. She clawed at his hand, managing to pull away and bolt outside. She knew they would be here soon, the dads were just spending too much time at the lab again and they had a trip so they needed to hurry up!

As if answering her mental plea, a car turned into the lot. Kristy squealed. "Guys, they're here, they're here! Let's go already!"

Marcus grunted. "Sis, they have to get out of the car first."

"Why?" she whined. "We're just gonna leave!"

"So they can help us load up everything in the car, squirt." Niko tussled Kristy's hair this time, hefting his camping backpack onto his shoulders. As always, he and Taiga were doubling up on supplies, as was the wise decision. Carrying enough between them to last them a while in the case something happened and they got lost in the woods together or something. Not that they expected it to happen, but it was best to be one hundred and ten percent prepared.

They walked up to the idle vehicle as the first adult came out of it with a loud, mirthful laugh. Spencer Daimon's eyes lit up when he saw his children approaching, already leaning down to catch his rocket of a daughter in his arms. "There's my girl!" He grinned widely, standing up to spin her around. He ended the display by throwing her in the air about two feet and catching her 'almost too late', laughing at the peals of laughter it brought from his auburn haired child. "Eager for the trip, are you?" He smiled down at her, curled up in his arms.

Kristy nodded, bouncing in his arms. "I'mma take lots of pictures for you!" she informed him, hugging around his neck. She seemed so proud to have this man as her father. Which she was, of course. And she was proud of her mother too.

Marcus muffled laughter behind one hand, dragging their bags. "Hey Dad!" He grunted, pretending the suitcases were heavier than they actually were. "Tell Sis to dump some of her room out, I think there's lint in here."

Kristy pouted. "It's not that heavy!"

"Good," he said with a laugh. "Then you can carry it." He proceeded to shove her bag at her, making her squeak.

Yakov Petrov chuckled to himself as he left the car. He, for all of his distance, did enjoy the laughter of children. He opened the trunk before regarding Taiga and Nikolai with his ever-present sobriety, despite the smile twitching his lips beneath his mustache. "Morning again, boys," he greeted. "No luck with her, I see."

"Hi Dad." Niko replied, going to go put his bag into the trunk. The backpack was large and heavy from everything he put in it, he wanted it off his back until he really needed to lug it around. He put it into the trunk neatly, putting it in a corner so that the rest could fit their stuff in too.

"Good morning, sir." Taiga greeted, plopping his duffle next to Niko's bag far less neatly, instantly making the blond fret over how messily it had been placed in and go to correct it. "Unfortunately we haven't, sir. She's quite adamant about staying so she 'can see the discovery of the century', or some such like that." He made sure to provide air quotes.

"Aw jeez, Dad, what is it about you that makes him start speaking all proper-like?" Niko complained. _It's so boring._

"Why is it you always have to clean things up?" Taiga returned with a silly grin.

"Because you keep making messes of everything!" Niko glared at him. Spencer merely laughed at the goings on, grabbing up both Marcus' and Kristy's bags and dumping them carelessly in the trunk, too. Niko instantly began to fret over it.

Yakov chuckled. "She would say that. We have addicted her to our research, I believe." He leveled Niko with a falsely severe look. "Perhaps it's something you should learn from," he quipped. "You're neat in most everything else, aren't you?" he was more amused than anything else.

"Yeah but that'd be _boring_." Niko countered, giving his Dad a small, joking frown. It was rare to get his Dad in this sort of mood these days, joking instead of drawn and serious, he was secretly eating it all up. "You wouldn't want a boring son, right? Who else would be the joker in the house if I'm boring? Shut up Taiga."

"I didn't say anything!" Taiga whined insincerely, grinning widely.

"You didn't have to." Niko glowered at him, shutting the trunk.

"Now, now, everyone, calm down." Spencer grinned at them, leaning down to pick up Marcus as well. Even for a ten year old boy, the little red head was small for a child despite how strong he was, allowing the man to easily heft him too. "You'll have enough excitement when you're at camp! Now Marcus, did you and Kristy remember to pack your tooth brushes at least?"

Kristy bobbed her head eagerly. "You betcha! I packed an extra!"

"Told you didn't have to do that," Marcus commented, adjusting his position in his dad's arms. Unfortunately, Kristy took up most of the hugging space. Could be worse things to do that to be honest. "She's paranoid about everything. She needed another pack of hairties!"

"They're gonna break," she protested, elbowing him on the arm.

Spencer laughed again, kissing both his kids on the forehead. Both of them were so precious. "Of course. Well, I'm glad, then. Seems you're all prepared for your trip! Let me go say hi to your mother real quick and we'll all go down to the bus stop together, eh?"

Marcus wriggled to be put down. "Got it!" He was going to go hug Rina then, since it'd be ages and if he didn't, Kristy would eventually realize she hadn't gotten a goodbye hug and start crying. (Really, it was nothing to cry about!) "Kay, Dad! She was in the living room earlier!"

Kristy showed no urge to leave her dad's grip and made her way to squirm closer instead.

Yakov chortled. "I'm sure you'd be fine no matter how polite you sounded, Niko." He almost mussed his son's hair, simply for the reaction, but desisted. No need for him to complain about how he looked. "Your sense of humor remains strong through everything."

"As opposed to anything else," Marcus muttered under his breath.

"I heard that!" Niko glowered at Marcus now. "You better run inside that house, boy, or so help me when I catch you I'm gonna give you _such a pinch_!"

Marcus grinned. "Can't take a joke, huh?"

Spencer chuckled at them both before allowing Marcus onto the ground, which let him dart back into the house before Niko could do as he promised. Yakov chuckled at his son once more, going to check the fuel tank of the car and carry extra equipment inside. No need to let Kristy get into that.

Marcus ran into the side hall, almost bumping into Rina in the process. "Hey sis!" His cheerful greeting turned into a surprised yelp as Rina lifted him up by the waist. "Only Dad's allowed to carry me, stop it!"

"Nahhh," she replied, grinning playfully and carrying the squirt under one arm. This was fun practice to say the least.

The man shook his head before following his son into the house, heading into the living room and coming almost face to face with his wife. Spencer smiled wider at the sight of her - a smile on her beautiful face, auburn hair tied into a looping pony tail, violet blouse and yellow undershirt, white skirt and positively glowing with all the charm a nine month pregnant woman would have. Her wood green eyes lit up more upon seeing him as he walked up with their daughter, giving her a gentle kiss on the mouth after hugging her with his free arm. "Hello, dear."

"Hello to you, too." She replied, laying her head on his shoulder and giving Kristy a smile as well. "I was just getting up to see what the shouting was. Is everything alright?"

"Yes, just Niko being himself. Don't worry about it." Spencer chuckled again. "C'mon, let's get you comfortable again." He began to lead her back to the couch, where she had left her knitting behind. Seems she was making a blanket for their newest member of the family. "How are things here?"

"Peaceful, for a given measure of 'peace' this family is able to achieve." Sarah Daimon laughed softly, sitting down with a grunt of effort to not just slam down too fast. "Rina's really interested in both your projects at GIGO."

"Kamishiro Unlimited." Spencer corrected. Despite how many times he reminded his wife of the merger GIGO and Kamishiro Corporation had undergone, she seemed determined to only remember the one name. He supposed it made it easier to remember. "And yes, she is. The V-Pet and... The other thing." The idea of an alternate world existing right along side theirs in some sort of string theory related shadow realm was _fascinating_. The fact Rina seemed to know the theory in and out before he'd even mentioned it to her was also fascinating for another reason. A reason he didn't want to get in to, but one he, Petrov and Sarah knew intimately and which excited Petrov and him both. Being able to monitor and interact with this shadow world, this planet they couldn't see but had gravitational impact on both their planet and their solar system, it would be the first step to being able to help her with the other reason.

Kristy reached for her mother, still barely grasping that whole 'she is pregnant, you cannot jump her' thing enough to offer a hug of her own. "Mommy!" She gave an insistent pout.

Rina plopped a now irate Marcus onto the carpet. "Heya sir." She had never quite managed to leave behind 'sir' or 'ma'am' with these two. It was almost like calling them parents was a sacrilege. It wasn't, but she was polite to them anyway. "Ma'am, two hugs incoming."

Marcus tried to glare at her.

"Oh goodness," Sarah chuckled softly, taking her daughter into her arms and giving her the hug she sought. "C'mon then, do your worst." She grinning at Rina and holding her other arm out.

"Hello, Rina. Still avoiding the crowd from your school, I see." Spencer chuckled, reaching into her hood to ruffle her hair.

Rina smirked and let Marcus go, allowing him to burrow into his mother's other arm near his sister. He stuck his tongue out at Rina. She did the same to him.

Rina then pouted at Spencer. "If I wanted to get dumb stuff shouted in my ear, I'd go to an arcade! I have manga to read anyway."

"Of course," Spencer smiled down at her. The poor girl didn't like other girls her age. She considered them vapid, stupid and wasting their free time thinking about boys instead of learning useful skills, such as curing water and cooking food over a campfire. "What do you still have left then?" He watched his wife hug her two younger children against her. The expression on her face was a bliss no physical pleasure, no delicious food or drink, _nothing_ could replicate. Some days he swore she loved their kids more than she loved him, which of course would make him shake his head. His wife was such a silly woman. He was sure if anything ever happened to him, taking care of their children would get her by even in the darkest of days.

Rina grinned. "Mostly the weekly stuff, And the one about the kid who summons ghosts." Something in her eyes softened at the sight. Happy families were freaking awesome. She knew she was lucky to have been thrown into one, especially since this one didn't ask all those annoying, piercing questions. "They're gonna have a good time anyway."

Spencer wrapped an arm around the girl's shoulders, noticing her mood and probably sensing why she was sad. For as long as she was still with them, she was part of their family. But that didn't mean they were her only family. "I hope so. They're certainly excited enough for it." He smiled down at her.

In a few minutes, after allowing Marcus and Kristy to hug their mother and bid her farewell, Spencer took them out to Yakov's car and put Kristy and Marcus into their car seats. Marcus had pitched a fit about it, of course, since Niko and Taiga weren't expected to sit in them, but soon after they were all off to the bus stop.

None of them had noticed the small shape that had darted from the kitchen window.


	3. The Weather Report Is a Lie (Again)

"Alright, ya bunch of brine suckers and Sayo," The adult in the middle of the room said. He was a short man with brown hair, a beard, blue-gray eyes and a bit of a portly figure. He wore a beanie that was completely out of season, for one reason or another. This was one Ricard Ridinger - Ricky to his friends, Sayo's family among them - who was usually a teacher at Sayo's school. He was assigned to take care of the gathered group for the next two weeks, and wouldn't you know it, it was all of the kids who had been introduced as important to this story in some fashion or another. Tsukino Sayo, Keren Littenberg, Nicolai Petrov, Taiga and Kamishiro Yuugo had all been assigned to the same cabin.

Keren had been hiding away from everyone, having desperately hoped she could bunk with her brother, while Yuugo and Sayo were sitting on the sofa near him. Taiga and Niko were taking turns poking each other in the side while the other was distracted, sitting at the table in the kitchenette area. No one knew 'why' he referred to everyone as 'brine suckers' except for Sayo. She seemed amused by it.

"Rules of the house are simple." He continued, as if he hadn't said something possibly insulting. "No being out after dark, don't go into the forest past the markers, don't eat anything off the ground _for the love of God_ and further more, no funny business. Funny business encompasses everything else. Ya get me?"

"Yeah, yeah..." Niko murmured distractedly, paying attention more to his Gameboy Color. (His Dad pulled off some favors to get it and some games a few months early! It paid to have a Dad in a video game making business, even if it was only part time. And the V-Pet really wasn't a 'video' game…)

"Yes, sir." Taiga replied gently. He poked Niko in the side again, to his annoyance. In her corner, Keren merely balled herself up tighter, hiding her face in her knees.

Sayo's lips twitched in a desperate attempt to control her smile. "Do we have a policy for the wildlife following me again, sir?" Her voice was soft, tinged with mirth, only making occasional pauses to look at their final group member, who seemed determined to become a human ball. If Yuugo wasn't here, she'd be in a similar position to be honest, but the twins practically required her to be social. How could they do such a thing?

Yuugo chuckled softly, arm resting on her shoulder as if in preparation to sleep there, which he probably was. It was that or fret over his sister being a cabin over and probably traumatizing people with her horde of snacks to share. "I doubt people are as accommodating of baby deer following you as we are." He followed her eyes towards Keren again and offered her a small smile. Separation anxiety. Ouch. He could sympathize a little. They would just have to make sure to get the siblings back in their group as often as possible in activities. It would make it easier. He glanced up at Sayo, who smiled back.

"Yeah, don't let them in the cabin." Ricard smirked at her, folding his arms. "No matter how much they beg. This ain't an animal orphanage, little lady. Plus it's really hard to get animal sh-" He slapped himself. "Cra-" He slapped himself again. " _Poop_ out of the carpet. Believe me, I raised cats. They don't care where they go as long as they can."

"Hey, we're old enough, man. Don't censor yourself. I say shi-" Niko was cut off when a tennis ball bounced off his forehead. "OW! WHAT THE HELL!?"

"'Nother rule, no cursing." Ricard glowered at him. The expression actually made Niko gulp and sink into his seat. "If you do, ten dollars in the swear jar. You remembered to bring it, right Sayo?"

Sayo nodded, pulling it out of her bag, its label trying to slip off. Said jar had been emptied just before they had left, in order to spoil a pouty Yuki and pay Dougal for having to watch her. Not that that replaced camp in the slightest but it would help. "Right."

"Her siblings appreciate the contribution," Yuugo added with a roll of his eyes. "As does the school. All in the name of brightening young minds."

"So posh," Sayo mused under her breath. He snatched her hat in reply.

"Right. Good." Ricard nodded, before slinging his coat over his shoulder. "Well, now I leave you guys to get acquainted. I'm gonna go see if the other teachers got things settled with their kids because I don't trust the bloody lot of them. Don't do anything I wouldn't. That means prepubescent toga parties."

"What the hell is-" Another tennis ball met Niko's head. "OW!"

"Seriously man, stop asking for him to do that." Taiga took over playing the Gameboy. He seemed to be doing much better than Niko had been.

Sayo waved at him as he shut the door. "He has an endless supply of those," she murmured once Ricard was gone. "Probably somewhere in hammerspace."

"Probably." Yuugo pulled away from her as she began to move things around, and went over to Keren. His steps were careful. He didn't want to startle her into a panic attack. He'd dealt with that enough in his short life. "Excuse me," he began, keeping his voice soft. "Do you want something to drink?"

Keren squeezed her knees tighter. "Want my brother." Her reply could barely be heard, her voice too soft and muffled. "Was supposed to be in the same group…"

"Yeah well, our friend Rina was supposed to come with us but she had other plans. Shit happens." Niko snarked at her, making her curl up even more. Taiga punched him in the side now, sending him falling to the floor holding his kidney area. "Dude! The hell!?" He gagged.

"Gotta pay ten dollars now, along with friendship tax." Taiga smirked, attention still on the game. "You're not exactly helping, bro."

Yuugo smiled sympathetically, ignoring Niko. "I can understand that," he said, sitting next to her. "I was supposed to be with my sister. They might be in the next cabin over. We could go check when they're done making rounds, maybe talk to the teachers about it for you."

Sayo hid her mouth to avoid revealing her smile. "He's not a very empathic person, huh?" she asked, looking up at Taiga. She immediately looked away, reflexes kicking in as she nervously went to pick up the swear jar and put it on the table beside them.

Keren stirred a little, peeking out from behind her knees at him. Her amber eyes were glistening with unshed tears. "...I... I would like that..." She sniffled a little before hiding her face once more.

"Yeah, not really. He's a jerk but someone has to be, going by statistics." Taiga gave the younger girl a smile before reaching in and plucking Niko's wallet from his jeans pocket.

"Dude!" Niko whined.

"How much yen is an American dollar?" Taiga asked, leafing through it. "I'm guessing that's the currency he mentioned before. If no one knows I'll just stuff the entire thing in, he'll keep forgetting anyway."

"You are such a _bitch_!"

"Exactly my point."

Yuugo nodded. "Then it's settled," he said, offering her some space and ignoring the goings on around him. "Sayo, you can give him 'the eyes', can't you?" Poor girl, he wasn't sure if it would do anything, but it was better than nothing. And if her brother was in the same cabin as Yuuko, all the better. He probably needed to keep an eye on her anyway, with her tendency to wander off.

"For a good cause," she replied, offering Taiga the jar, giving a nervous smile in return. "It's about 124 yen," she said after a moment. "I had to remember it to make it easier on people. So it'd be about 1240, but he's done it twice now so your way... might be easier?"

"Very well then!" Taiga stuffed the entire thing into the jar, as he said, grinning all the while.

"Dude!" Niko finally got up and tackled the jar out of his hands, trying to fish the wallet out. Considering the space put in the jar's top only allowed some of his fingers to wiggle in, it was going to take a while to get it out this way, if at all. "Dude, you're such a bastard!"

"Might be," Taiga shrugged. "Neither of us will never be able to find out, though."

Sayo laughed softly and took the jar. "I'll get it out for you at the end," she said, putting it away. "It's probably easier not to have it. Who knows what ideas get into people's heads?"

"Bad ones," Yuugo supplied from where he was sitting on the couch. "Evil ones. Ones we cannot voice to the crowd."

* * *

Meanwhile, far beyond the limits of the markers, a small girl with purple hair sat on the stump of a tree. She stared up at the sky, not really seeing it. She inhaled and exhaled slowly. This was the right place then. She had come out here, after all. What was it that the research said? Shrines and holy areas were places of power? Well, when it came to the Digital World, that wasn't exactly a lie.

Two pups sat by her feet, one of whom was batting at her shoelaces like it had caused her a personal vendetta. Mirei was half-tempted to tell Ivy to behave herself but she wouldn't listen. So she ignored it, focusing once more on her breathing. She hadn't exactly done this in such an expansive space before. At least, not continuously.

On her next exhale, she saw her breath, a puff of cold in the summer air. ice curled harmlessly around her fingers and with a thought, melted to drip into ivy's fur, earning a pout.

Behind her, two men who wore odd clothing sat and began to sing a somber song, watching clouds began to gather above. An abnormal chill began to fill the air, making their thick fur clothes make sense. Both wore masks that covered their entire heads, one shaped to look like an acorn, the other shaped to look like some sort of odd seashell. They watched the first snowfall, unmoved by the shockingly not summer weather.

People looked up when they saw the first snowfall as well, genuinely distressed by this development. Unsurprisingly, as winds began to pick up as the girl somehow tapped into the leylines of the land to influence the weather of the world. Ricard urged people inside cabins before racing inside of one as well as soon as he noticed no one else was around him, hoping his kids were keeping safe and regretting leaving them behind.

The girl didn't even shift in her seat, singing soft harmony in unison with the two men. Her hair lifted in the wind and snow fell over her hair, but she ignored it, so intent on her task. She didn't need much more. Just enough to take the others in... to fulfill her promise.

Somehow, the men's song with her was stabilizing this odd change in the weather - and by stabilizing, it was actually intensifying it. Winds howled, thunder began to rumble in the sky and the snow fell harder, mixed with chunks of hail the size of golf balls.

* * *

Taiga walked over to one of the windows, staring outside of the cabin in surprise. Snow was falling hard outside of the cabin, coating the ground outside in white. "What in the blazes..." He breathed, bringing the attention of the rest of the inhabitants over to him.

Yuugo took Sayo's hand gently and guided her closer. "Well..." he managed. "That's a problem."

Sayo winced, touching her head. The news had been talking about this... strange, unusual weather patterns. This was probably just one of them, but something somehow, didn't seem right.

_The world is more than what you can see._

"We need to get the windows sealed. All of them." Taiga immediately took charge, moving forward to close and lock the shutters of the window they'd been looking out of. With the weather getting this bad, the last thing they needed was a window breaking and letting the weather in. "Someone start the fire in the fireplace while the rest of us do this!"

"I'll take care of that, Dad taught me how." Niko immediately got to work, getting the matches and lighter fluid necessary as he began throwing firewood into the fireplace.

Yuugo went to Niko's side. "Careful how you throw it," he said, reorganizing it. "We don't want it to light the building." His voice was almost a whisper. "Are there any extra blankets? We can't risk any cold air coming in through the door."

Sayo moved to help Taiga, wincing at her significant lack of height. She knew how to compensate thankfully, using one of the chairs and shuttering another window. "They're in that dresser there..." She glanced at Keren. "Um... could you get that part?" She tried to smile but the cold shot over her skin and she quickly moved to another window.

Keren was watching them, alarmed by the growing sound of the blizzard and their own panic. At Sayo's request her eyes shook for a moment but ultimately she nodded and went to do as asked, going to the dresser and getting the extra blankets. She began to bunch some of them up at the door, covering the bottom groove.

"Yeah, I know. Thanks kid." Niko acknowledged, helping set the firewood up properly. "Get the lighter fluid, only need a couple squirts on this stuff to get it going, it's nice and dried out."

Taiga shuttered another window, sighing in relief. One more and they wouldn't have to worry on this end. Luckily there wasn't another floor to worry about. "I'll get the last one. Get the blankets off the beds, too, please. We'll need to all bunch together after this, if the chill still gets in despite everything."

Sayo went to gather the rest, pausing at the window. She went still. She swore she heard three voices singing out there, but that couldn't be. It was getting so terrible out there. Who would be out in this weather?

She shook herself and went to put pillows on the floor. No one would want to sit on the floor if it got cold. She set them carefully and placed the blankets on top. The sound came again to her ears, and she tried to tune it out. She had always had good hearing. It had been horrible when Yuki hadn't been able to sleep through the night as a baby. She ended up getting up and just quieting her if only so they all could sleep somewhat.

Yuugo handed Niko the lighter fluid and went to help Sayo and Keren. He offered Keren another smile and went to check for hot drinks. He then started to drip the faucets, just a little. Just enough that they wouldn't freeze.

Taiga shuttered the last window as Niko lit the fireplace, stepping back after threw the large match he'd struck against the brink of the mantle onto the dry firewood. The accelerant did its job and soon they had a happily roaring fireplace going, bringing heat back to the rapidly chilling room.

Keren shivered slightly, rubbing her arms for a moment. She hadn't noticed the chill until she'd started to work, goodness that was close. Managed to give Yuugo a smile as well before she claimed one of the spots for herself, wrapping up in an offered blanket after grabbing her bag. She knew she wanted her stuff close just in case.

Yuugo took his bag and Sayo's and put them by his feet. He sat down and picked up another blanket to wrap around himself. He lifted his head. "Sayo? Come on."

Sayo didn't turn immediately. She could still hear it. Someone was out there. But... she couldn't go look, not in this cold. Not when it could get the others hurt. If it came closer, they would know. They would hear it too. But who could have been out like this and sing so calmly? She went to sit with Yuugo, taking another blanket.

Taiga and Niko eventually came over as well, bringing their bags with them. They bundled up with the rest of the group, all of them wrapping blankets around themselves and huddling close. The shaking in the group wasn't just from the cold. Oh no. It was the realization the were all alone. The person of authority in this situation had left them - yes, before the weather had gotten this bad, but even still. They were alone. That brought more fear to them than anything else in this situation.

* * *

Mirei slowly stopped humming along, gradually returning to slow, deep breaths. She didn't feel the cold in the slightest, and when she opened her eyes once more, the snow had slowed, beginning to calm. She picked up her pups off the ground and held them, feeling both shiver and burrow into her. She pet them both on the head. "'S'over," she murmured, feeling somewhat tired.

The men behind Mirei shook the snow off of their furred capes and stood, brandishing spears made of ice they had pulled from the snow they had been about buried in. They walked up to Mirei, offering another fur for her to wrap her partners in. Their mournful song was finishing as well, for soon they joined her in silence.

Mirei smiled and took it, wrapping the pups in it. Then she made her way to hug one, expressing her gratitude as best as she could. Her expression sobered immediately after, and she picked up her bag.

"Time to wait then," she murmured. The storm clouds above them stopped their churning, lightened and then began to dissipate.

* * *

They waited an hour before any were brave enough to check on why the howl of the wind died down. What they found was most distressing.

"Four feet of snow." Taiga muttered, looking outside of the unshuttered window in shock. "We had a blizzard that covered the ground in four feet of snow. In _August_."

"Are we going to be able to open the door?" Yuugo asked in a low voice, beginning to look through supplies again. He kept one eye on Sayo, who hadn't made any noise in the past hour, not even to sneeze. Her focus was elsewhere clearly. He took her hand and gently guided her to help. She nodded and eventually looked around.

"D-Does anyone have a phone?" She didn't, not that they were great things to carry around anyway. Her mother was deadset against any of the children having them before high school, and what she wanted tended to be the reality. She concentrated on the sound again. It was fainter now, but she knew she had heard it. She hoped someone would find whoever it was.

"I do. It's in my bag, one sec." The world had to be ending, Taiga decided. Four feet of snow in August and Niko was being helpful now. As his blond friend began to dig through his bag, all of them otherwise paused when there was a set of knocks at the very door Yuugo asked if they would be able to open.

The kids looked at each other silently at that before Taiga took charge again and slowly watched up to the door and looked through the peep hole. He didn't see anyone out there, but it did look like the snow had been cleared from the door. There was another set of knocks, startling him away from it a little.

"No one's at the door. Who's making that sound?" Taiga asked the rest quietly.

"You don't think it might be a _Yuki-onna_ , do you?" Niko asked, somewhat frightful. Keren shivered slightly at the idea.

"It's not night time, so I doubt it." Taiga frowned. Another set of knocks made a tic appear on Taiga's forehead. He debated opening up the door. What if it was someone was out there freezing to death? Ultimately he decided to open the door and instantly regretted it.

A huge man he should have seen in the peep hole was standing there, wearing lots of fur clothes and a seashell mask. A small girl with glasses, purple hair and eyes was standing by his side but he didn't really notice her because the man picked him up by the shirt and hauled him outside.

"WENDIGO!" Taiga screamed like a ninny just before the door closed.

For a moment, the cabin occupants just stared. That... that had seriously just happened right? Well, there wasn't any more screaming after that so what were they supposed to think? Also, did wendigo shut doors? Important question, right?

Finally, Sayo broke the silence. "Grab your things." Her eyes were watching the door like it would fly off its hinges and unleash all manners of hell. (She was probably right.) "We need to be ready to run." Yuugo bit his tongue on the other comment.

* * *

Mirei tilted her head. Well, that was one way to check, she guessed. The look on this person's face didn't say much, but she'd never known anyone to appreciate being dragged out by their shirt. She hefted her bag up and moved closer. "Uncle... that may have been a bit much." She looked him up and down and opened her bag, letting the devices inside search for themselves.

"Yes, well," The man sniffed slightly. "Cha-Cha can't have all the fun." Taiga hung limply in his grasp, completely in shock from both the rough handling and the sudden, extreme cold. "Is the device working? He won't survive long in the cold."

Mirei looked and pulled one out. It sparked and she nodded at them both. "It's this one then." She looked at the cabin. "And likely the others in there as well. We shouldn't waste time." she moved towards the door. "We're going to change their lives." Her voice turned tired, almost monotonous. "The least we can do is give them each other in the meantime." The warmth in her chest smoldered softly and she lifted the device out of her bag and took Taiga's hand, resting it there and curling his fingers around it. "I apologize," she said. "But fate sometimes works this way."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yuki-onna* - snow woman is a literal translation, with many different legends surrounding her, such as being a spirit who perished in the snow.
> 
> wendigo* - A cannibal monster or evil spirit typically associated with the Atlantic Coast and Great Lakes Region of the United States and Canada. For more information please see google.


	4. There Are No Wendigos

Taiga blinked for a moment, feeling the device warm in his hand, wondering what the small girl had said and what she meant. He was still in shock from being dragged out into the freezing cold by the large man in furs, so his ability to process was kind of ruined.

"Well." The man headed for the door once more. "Let's get the rest tested, then. We're running on a timer now, I think." As soon as he opened the door, the rest of the children in the cabin made a break for it, trying to dodge around him. The snow under his feet responded to that, forming hands which snatched all of them up by their ankles and falling flat on their faces as soon as they got past him. Even though Mirei couldn't see his face, the man's eyebrow was rising in incredibility. "Well. That was a thing."

Mirei hid her face, trying not to giggle. It loosened the lines of her young face. "Well, we can appreciate their self-preservation... we should get them inside then. They'll die in this condition." Her bag warmed and she looked at each device. Only one glowed a little more faintly than the rest... as if who it was looking for was too far away. "Then, we'll be able to explain... hopefully."

Provided none of them tried to attack. That would make things difficult.

"Very well then." The man nodded, before throwing Taiga unceremoniously into the house. He landed on the blankets and pillows the group had put out before, barely managing to roll over before Keren met his chest. Then followed Yuugo, landing on the girl's back with a grunt, followed by Sayo and then Niko.

"Guys... Get off..." Taiga managed to get out from the bottom of the pile. Niko immediately jumped off the group, face burning.

"Sorry!" He said, helping Sayo. Niko paused and looked over his shoulder when the sound of heavy boots hitting the floor reverberated in the cabin. The girl and her wendigo were in there with them now, with a second wendigo joining them. The new one held a fur covering that had two pairs of green eyes peering out from inside of it. "What do you even want!?" He yelled at them, now assuming the short girl was a _yuki-musume*_ , since she didn't look anywhere close to being a full grown woman but had been able to exist out in that cold without even shivering.

Sayo flushed and leaped away from Niko, helping Yuugo to his feet. She looked around and shivered. "C-close the door please."

Mirei did so, ignoring the blast of cold air. "You," she said bluntly. "You all have been chosen."

"What, to be eaten by you and your wendigos?" Niko barked at her.

"What do American aboriginal legends about cannibalistic monsters have to do with anything?" The man wearing the acorn mask and holding the fur bag asked, sounding rather amused. "We're in Japan, last I knew. I doubt those are things that can easily board an airplane and come on over."

"Shut _up_ Cha-Cha." The man with the seashell mask sighed.

"Oh come on, at least I'm talking to them. You're just sitting there stoically and probably scared the living daylights out of them before I got here, Kayumba!"

"It's just 'Kay.'"

"Well if you can call me by my childhood name I can do the same thing for you, _brother._ "

Taiga slowly stood up, helping Keren at the same time. The poor girl had a death grip on the front of his sweatshirt and was shaking uncontrollably. Even with one of the men trying to make the atmosphere lighter, the fact of the matter was this group of kids were all scared to death.

Mirei bit back a sigh. She was too young for this, and by Digital World standards, she wasn't. That said something. "No." Ivy made a disgruntled noise from inside the fur she and her sister were still curled in. She tapped it absently. "I doubt you would provide anyone with a meal," she deadpanned. She looked around and sighed, placing her bag on the ground. "Where to start with this..." She honestly didn't know how to get through to them, terrified as they were. Most of it would just spark a fight.

Unfortunately, while she was thinking, Ivy squirmed out into view with a squawk. "Can you all just relax?" She yelped. "It's too cold to panic yourself into heart failure."

Mirei pinched her nose. Of course.

Sayo broke from her fright. "C-cute...!" Come on, it was a puppy! How could that not be cute?

Yuugo tugged her ear as Ivy preened. She pulled away from Yuugo to approach it, fingers outstretched. "You bet I am."

 _That_ killed the mood, leaving everyone just staring for a moment as Sayo moved even closer.

"Ah, well, yep. Cat's out of the bag, kind of literally." The acorn masked man sighed ruefully. "Might as well just let them out. Yep, here we go..." With gentle care, he put the fur covering the two little pups down and let them come out. They'd complain of rough handling if he did anything else.

Taiga, meanwhile, winced as Keren's finger nails dug into his skin. She was staring down at the two pups in complete surprise - and maybe more than a little fear. He didn't blame her, talking pups were abnormal by any definition and let's not over look the fact they didn't look like any dog breed she knew of. Too bad Sayo lacked that common sense.

Niko spoke her thoughts on the matter, "The hell are those things!?"

"Not a thing, _peasant_ ," Ivy corrected, sniffing and sitting back on her haunches. "I am a Digimon, a Plotmon to be precise, as is my sister, Rue. My name is Ivy." She went over to Sayo and sniffed, moving to be pet. Almost without thinking, Sayo knelt and pet her. She didn't have to kneel far, thankfully. Seeing this creature, a Plotmon, made her head hurt and she couldn't explain why. Still, their fur was very soft.

Mirei sat on one of the pillows. "They, as am I, are from another world," she said in a soft voice. "Have you heard of other worlds?"

"So you're _aliens_? From outer space?" Niko asked, sounding incredulous. As much as it would make talking dogs make sense, the idea was still ludicrous. Mirei winced.

"Hardly." 'Kay' snorted. "The little miss is our niece. She may not have been born in this world, but she is very much human. She is from a shadow world of this one."

"That'd still kind of make her an _alien_!" Niko insisted, frowning. Kay seemed to glower at him, curbing Niko's temper.

"Let the little miss explain herself, lad." He said sharply. The tone of his voice made Keren curl against Taiga unthinkingly and he helplessly patted her back, looking around for help of any sort.

Well. Mirei supposed that was a nicer term for it than she expected. She looked down at Rue, continuing to pet her for a few moments. _Papa, why did they choose me for this?_ She knew he couldn't answer at the moment, and wouldn't want her to complain about it anyway, not when she was strong enough to endure and think it all through.

She exhaled. "You're right in a simple sense, only I don't think Digimon would take kindly to you about that. The Digital World is a world that is layered over this one and is affected by the technological changes in this one, advances or otherwise, as well as other components. Digimon, Digital Monsters, are the main creatures that live in it. Right now, that world, our world, is in danger of destruction, which would in turn, likely destroy this world. I was, as you are, chosen to fight against the forces that wish to cause this." She plucked a device from the belt loop of her pants and showed it to them. It was like the one Taiga had had placed in his hand. "Ivy and Rue, my partners, are to fight with me, as your partners will for you."

Sayo sat back abruptly. That sounded... no, no, she shouldn't think about that... She went back to petting Ivy, not noticing Yuugo's worried glance and ignoring the pain in her head. He didn't want to look away but he went to Keren and gave her a gentle shoulder pat.

"He's not angry with you," Yuugo said softly. "Our senior over there just likes putting his foot in his mouth and getting himself into trouble."

"Don't like this, want them all gone, want my brother..." She mumbled into Taiga's sweater, shaking heavily. The boy's expression softened and he gently patted her on the back as well. He remembered that sort of fear. It seemed only yesterday he'd felt the same way, being in a strange place surrounded by strange people. His only difference was he _couldn't remember how he had gotten there at all.._

"Wait, hold on now. Fight?" Niko asked, staring at them incredulously again. Since no one seemed to want to talk about this other than him, he decided to point out the obvious. "You want us to be fighting something? What the hell can we fight that you guys couldn't? We're just kids!"

Yuugo sighed softly. "Just breathe," he said, loud enough for everyone to hear. "Everyone. Just. Breathe." His voice was as calm as it could be. He sighed and shook his head. "He is right, however. What exactly _can_ we do _?"_

Mirei looked down at her lap and didn't answer.

Ivy scowled. "The same way she is, you dolt. Have some faith. She doesn't have a choice. It's fight or die in this case."

"But why us?" Niko insisted. He glared right at Mirei, at her pups, at the two men who stood behind her. "Why does it have to be _us?_ Why can't it be someone else?"

"Because you have been chosen." Kay replied for them. "We are sorry, but none of this were the ones who did it. Mirei even less so. She is in the same boat as you. As she said, she is also chosen."

"That doesn't make any of it _right_!" Niko shouted. "You're adults! You're supposed to be fighting! Not us, not some shmuck kids who have no business with this extra dimensional world war thing you guys talked about!"

"You're right." 'Cha-Cha' nodded slightly. "In a way, you don't. We're bringing you all in on this rather unfairly. But as Mirei said, if you don't go, you risk this world being destroyed by your inaction. But now something she hasn't told you yet - you're all the measure of last resort. We had other options. They all failed. Now everyone that could have fought the war on the other side is _dead_ or _captured_. Or close enough, at any rate."

The cabin became eerily silent at that proclamation.

"Wonder why she didn't want to talk about it, Kay," Ivy grumbled.

Mirei said nothing for a while, looking at her lap. She had felt the exact way as Niko did, more than once. But, even if she felt that way, she was still going to go. She was still going to fight. She didn't have much of a choice now. They knew her face. She wouldn't be safe no matter where she ran. And she wanted to anyway. That was her home.

Sayo stroked Ivy's fur, thinking. Thinking of the hands raised to her, the pain. Thinking of the stories, so blurry in her head now. Thinking of her strange dreams for the past week, and the softness of the puppy's fur as she pet her. Thinking of the slight shaking in that little girl's shoulders. It was very likely that girl Mirei had known the people who had died, had known them very well, even. She exhaled softly.

"Just because someone is an adult," she finally said, looking more at Ivy than at anyone else. "Doesn't mean they necessarily can take care of things that the children are not responsible for." She forced her head up and breathed slowly, in and out. "What... what do I have to do?" Her fists clenched and unclenched. "M-Maybe this is stupid and heroic, but... what can I do?" She licked her lips. "What do I have to do to help you?"

Mirei blinked in pure surprise. Then she reached into her bag, and pulled out another device, clipping her own back onto her belt. She held it out and Sayo took a few steps took it carefully from the others' small hand. It warmed to her touch.

"Sayo," Yuugo started quietly. "Are you sure?" At her nod, he sighed. "I guess that means I'm in too. I'm not leaving her to run off into adventures without me." He winked at her, and she let out a nervous laugh.

"Me too." Taiga spoke up. He held the device Mirei had placed in his hand when they were outside, giving a somewhat forced smile. "I kind of don't have a choice in that department. Might as well go balls to the wall for the win, right? And yeah, putting ten dollars in the swear jar, I know."

Niko stared at his friend for a moment, nostrils flaring, before he shoved his hands in his pockets. "... We're really the only ones that can do this? This 'save the world' nonsense?"

"Yes." Kay answered, so earnestly and honestly it took Niko aback for a moment. "Yes, you are. And no amount of apology on our parts can change that... But for what it's worth; we're sorry it came down to this."

"... Fine." Niko sighed, before walking over to Mirei and shoving a hand at her. "Alright, give it here. If my dumbass friend is going, I am too. Someone's gotta keep him out of trouble."

"Didn't know you cared." Taiga grinned at him.

"Oh _bite me._ "

Mirei handed one to Yuugo and then to Niko. She didn't speak a word and merely focused more intently on the last two. One still remained too dim. She wondered... but she wouldn't voice it now. They needed to work with what they had.

"Somehow I get the feeling it's 'he'll keep an eye on you from making anything homicidal'," Yuugo mused and Sayo giggled again. Then she sobered, looking over at Keren. She went over to her.

"Um," she murmured. "Just because we said yes, doesn't mean you have to." Sayo tried to smile. "If you want to wait here for your brother, no one will blame you for it. And if you choose to do this, you should do it because it's something you want to do. I, well, um, I won't speak for the others but... I'll support whatever decision you make..." She trailed off and stepped back, embarrassed.

Keren didn't say anything, merely squeezed tighter to Taiga for a moment. He rubbed her back as she began shaking again, looking down at her sadly when tears began to soak into his sweater. She didn't say anything for a little bit before she gently pulled away from the boy. She kept her puffy, red eyes to the ground as she stood and walked over to Mirei, pausing before her.

The girl shuffled for a moment. She wanted her brother. She should wait for him. But her parents had ground her down too much. They would want her to stay away from this, more than likely, come home to them so they could _choke her to death_ with their education. She wanted to get away. She needed to get away. Mirei was giving her an out that was sweeter than death.

Silently, she held out her hand to accept the device that would probably be the end of her.

Mirei regarded the other girl thoughtfully and placed the device in her palm. Then she closed her bag and looked up at her uncles. She knew there was one more but wherever they were, it wasn't here. And they had to get going. They had left the other one for too long. "Time then," she said softly.

Her pups raced back to her side and she held her own device gently in hand. "Don't let go of the Digivice," she said simply. "You don't want to know what will happen if you do."

"Wait, what do you mean by that?" Niko asked before a light began to fill the air from their feet, turning their surroundings blue. The men by Mirei's side keeled to sit seiza style as for some reason, music began to fill the air. It started with a piano, playing a few notes for a bit before the rest of the instrumentation joined it. Then the men began to sing.

"What the hell is going on!?" Niko asked, stuffing his Digivice into his pocket as he instinctively dashed for his camping backpack.

"Hell if I know, but it's exciting!" Taiga responded, smiling despite the panic racing in his heart as he followed his friend's example and grabbed his duffel bag, as well as some of the blankets and pillows.

Sayo and Yuugo hurried to do the same, Sayo barely glancing at Mirei before grabbing the extras. She may not need it yet, but they could never be sure. They had no clue what this world was like after all, except that it had monsters.

_Just like your stories._

Sayo put the thought aside and knelt on the ground. She tentatively reached out and nudged Yuugo, looking at Keren. So far, her friend was doing pretty well with her. Yuugo almost pouted, but reached over and took Keren's free hand. He offered her a reassuring smile.

Mirei joined them, singing softly. Nervousness tickled her stomach. She was going home. She wasn't sure what her home would be like anymore, only that the old places she had adventured through were long gone. Honestly, she would be happy if the world was there at all.

Keren stared at Yuugo, her amber eyes puffy and red and almost dead looking. There was enough spark in them to be curious, questioning at him though. Her hand tightened over the device given to her, secretly relishing the warmth in her palm.

Niko and Taiga grabbed onto each other, Taiga taking Sayo's other hand. The light under the group intensified to high degree, making it hard to see each other except vague outlines. Then there was nothing.

As one, the group shot up into the sky, the light parting the clouds Mirei had summoned over the camping grounds. The sky shone with multicolored light, like an aurora borealis, the sun darkened by the light.

* * *

"No...!" Ricard cried as he watched the light shoot up the sky. He knew what that meant and had seen where it had come from. Not his kids, not Sayo, please not them...!

From beside him, Koh looked up at the bright light. Unnoticed by most of the room, he reached towards him, his computer starting to tremble beneath his fingers.

* * *

From the windows of her office, a woman with blonde hair watched the lights in the sky. She sipped her drink with a placid smile. Then, she sighed to herself. "Be safe, little miss," she murmured. "Good luck with our world." She then turned back to her paperwork, as if confident the child would hear.

More likely than not, she had.

She looked at her cup, then frowned. "Seaweed. That was it."She would have to try something else.

Kuremi Kyoko set her cup down, and went to her desk phone.

* * *

"Well." Rekushin sighed, watching the light dissipate into the sky. He was walking down a forest path, heading right into the camp. He wore a red turtleneck now, along with blue jeans and brown boots, walking with the help of a finely carved wood cane. "It seems my brothers have done their duty. Good luck back home, my darling. I'll try to be along with you soon."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *yuki-musume - It's another way of saying yuki-onna, except in this case, Niko is referring to her more as the daughter of a yuki-onna. Silly child.


	5. And So It Begins

Despite the fact that the Digital World was consistently in a state of potential doom and destruction, File CITY was as well populated and bustling as ever - or as much as it could be, despite the circumstances. That may have been the reason, come to think of it. Whatever the case, Digimon worked dutifully day in and out, desperate to keep living, desperate to see past the world.

At least to Falcor the Liollmon, it sure seemed that way. Most of his friends considered that way of thinking about life pretty naive, but then again, they all had their reasons to be cynical and grumpy. He just had the whole 'your fur is rare, let me kill you' thing, and that was getting to be less and less of a big deal. And even if he had experienced horrible things, why waste life whining about them? Better just to be happy and kill whatever got in your way of it. Oh, and cuddle his partner. He liked to cuddle.

Something wrong with that?

Falcor also liked to sleep. Which, until the sky lit up, was exactly what he was doing.

When the light faded, and Falcor had dozed back off again, he was awoken (rudely, I might add) by a kick to his rear end. "Wake up you mass of acid fluff."

"I'm a wha?" Falcor yawned, showing the kicker his mouth of fangs. "Artemis, what was that for? It was mean!"

'Artemis' twitched her large ears, glaring down at the little lion cub with all the strength she could in her tiny body. Her small paws were at what was probably her hips, though it was hard to tell, seeing as she didn't even look like she had legs. One of the issues of being a Lunamon. How had she kicked him in the first place? "I see you've found your human."

Falcor blinked, utterly baffled. "I did?" He looked around, seeing the black-haired child unconscious next to him. "Oh! Hey! I did! And without any effort! Lucky me!"

Artemis rolled her eyes and bopped him over the head. "Idiot, wake him up. I need your nose. I can't find mine."

"You'd think you'd have a better nose than that," Falcor muttered, but began to shake the human with his front paw. The boy made a distant sleepy noise.

Artemis sighed. "Dolce, guys, I found our resident bum."

" _Finally._ " Despite the stress of the words, the speaker maintained a deadpan, monotone speaking voice. A violet and grey furred hamster-like creature with bat wings for ears flew in, landing next to the Lunamon. Her yellow-green eyes narrowed at Falcor in annoyance as a blue dragon-like creature with a white tummy, red eyes, floppy ears and a golden V decoration on his forehead, a blue bipedal Shiba Inu with a headband and boxing gloves and another Plotmon piled after her. "I see you found your human. Why didn't you come get us if you found him?"

"Seriously," muttered the small blue dragon. "Almost gave me a heart attack. I don't need to lose two dorps instead of one."

Falcor yawned. "Well, I was gonna, but I was sleepy, and I think he musta seemed cold so I decided cuddles would keep him warm so I just... fell asleep." He grinned, shameless.

Artemis rolled her eyes. "Of course you did. Not that we've had much luck finding humans. I guess landing in the same place was down to some luck."

As they spoke, the boy, Yuugo, started to stir. Falcor popped up and began to nose at his face. Artemis, used to the cub's idiocy by now, pulled him back. "Don't take away his breathing room, idiot," she hissed.

"Aww..."

Yuugo let out a soft groan. His head was _killing_ him.

Dolce took flight once more, floating closer to take a look at the boy. He didn't seem injured but at the same time, injuries sometimes weren't obvious. She sighed. Poor thing looked a little ruffled, at any rate.

"Come on now, little one." She urged softly. "It's time to wake up. Daylight is burning, and you don't want to be caught outside at night."

Yuugo nodded blearily and looked up. "Talking hamster," he mumbled. "After the dogs, I should not be surprised..." He made himself get up, looking around. The others were nowhere to be found. His eyes widened and his grip tightened around the Digivice at his pant loop. "Ah... you're all Digimon... right?"

"Yeah!" Falcor nuzzled at his fingers. "My human! I found a human and I can cuddle him."

"Oh spare me," Artemis muttered.

Yuugo blinked and reached to scratch one of the cub's ears. "I... I have a cat." Well then. It was a good thing he liked cats. Well, this was a lion actually but whatever. It was fluffy and he was still out of it.

"Come now, Artemis, we both know you're going to be this dopey once we've found yours." Dolce chided her.

"I think we all are. They're our humans, we've been waiting a long time for them." The blue shiba said.

Artemis huffed. "I'll at least have some dignity, sheesh."

"Yeah, yeah. Can we stop talking so we can go look for them? We got Falcor, so we can do that now." The Plotmon complained. "I wanna find mine already!"

Falcor yawned. "You guys are so impatient." He started to sniff around and pace. "I'm not a dog! You should let Sasha do it!"

"My name is _Sashenka_..." The shiba protested softly.

"You're the one with the patience with his nose," Artemis snipped, whacking him over the head again. The poor shiba went ignored, as per usual. "Come on, get everybody some help. V.V., did you see any other humans?"

V.V. shrugged, shifting on his heels. "Nope, but I swear I smelled one. Not helpful I know but at least we know they're actually here this time." He needed to find _her_. She was good at disappearing. He needed to find her before she got into trouble he couldn't help her with. Again.

"My name is Sashenka..." The shiba protested softly for a second time.

"Sasha is easier to remember." The Plotmon grunted. "Stop fighting it, jeez."

"And what about you, Digimaru?" Sasha asked in return.

"THAT WAS A PHASE!" His friend screeched, making the few windows rattle. "A phase I grew out of! You know that! It's not a shortening of my name! It was a stupid nickname-"

"We _get_ it." Dolce cut in, glaring him down. "Now get to work. We need to find the humans before they get into trouble. This one was lucky to be found so close to the CITY, we don't know about the others."

V.V. saluted. He'd respect Dolce if it wasn't so funny to see her get mad. "Rightyo boss," he quipped. He was worried, of course but still.

Yuugo stared at the goings on, then started to laugh. Goodness, these guys were all pretty close, weren't they? Much better than their own group... none of them were really connected yet. But maybe this would be good. Maybe they could make new friends.

"Got a scent," Falcor said after a moment, striding forward as quickly as possible. Once he had a scent, he didn't like losing it. He'd get in trouble if he did. And that wasn't fun.

* * *

The group eventually happened upon a clearing, Yuugo and the other Digimon following after Falcor's enthusiastic pace. In the middle of it, under the shade of a lone tree, the familiar form of Keren was curled up by its roots. She seemed perfectly awake but obviously didn't move far from where she had landed, merely trying to tuck herself and hide away to keep herself safe. She curled even tighter when she heard their approach.

It was all Dolce could do to not charge right at her. Her breath hitched in her throat and she nearly flew right into the tree as soon as she saw the sad little preteen. "My stars..." She finally managed to say, landing on a root just above her head. She looked like a mother seeing her child for the first time. "What are you doing here, darling? Come now, we won't harm you. Are you hurt any?"

Keren shook her head against her knees, trying to curl herself out of existence.

Yuugo knelt beside her. "Hey, Keren." He held Falcor back from sniffing her. "You're okay. These are our Digimon. Well, not all of them." He let out a sheepish laugh, smiling gently at her.

Artemis let out a huff. "Dolce, don't drool too much. You're scaring the little nut."

"She's stuck at terror already," V.V. mused, shaking his head.

"Oh, hush you." Dolce gave Artemis a glare. "You'll be exactly like this with your own partner, mark my words. Let me have my meeting with my own."

Keren slowly peeked up, and for once she didn't look like she had been recently crying. The tear stains on her face were dry and her eyes looked a little less red and puffy than they did before. She saw Dolce and Falcor, and V.V., Artemis and Sasha, with the Plotmon bringing up the rear. They all looked like they wanted to get a good look at her, Dolce obviously the most. Her eyes locked onto the hamster and for a moment, time stopped for her. There seemed to be an instant connection between the two, and Dolce risked coming closer to her.

When Keren didn't shy away, Dolce gently felt her face. "Darling, why have you been crying?" She asked with a tenderness that was completely foreign to her deadpan voice. Keren didn't answer again, but she shook slightly, looking ready to cry once more. "No, no, it's alright. You don't have to tell me if you don't want to. But I'm here for you now. Don't worry about anything. I'll keep you safe from now on."

That didn't really help stop the tears from coming, but at least she was crying for a different reason now. It was the same tenderness her brother had shown her. Something about that, about the way this violet little hamster spoke, carried herself, made Keren instantly trust her. Almost without fanfare, the girl took the hamster into her arms and hugged her. Despite her surprise, Dolce hugged her back without any reservation.

"Aw, Mommy really does have a soft side." The Plotmon snarked.

"Is there a problem with that?" Dolce asked him in a tone that made it clear that he was about to get his sides soft in a minute, when she was done with the first meeting hugs.

"Nope. Nothing. Nothing wrong with that. Nope." Plotmon slowly shuffled behind Sasha.

"Please don't use me as your shield." The Shiba Inu protested.

Artemis was unfazed by the glare. In fact it only seemed to amuse her more. "C'mon Falcor," she said. "Leave 'em to it, we'll get the puppies their little idiots next."

Falcor pouted. "But cute things~"

Artemis latched onto his collar and yanked. "C'mon."

Yuugo smiled a little. Finally. The girl had a response that wasn't pure terror or misery. There was a future yet. Hopefully, this creature would help more than they had so far. He exhaled and went after the others. The other four were still missing... but if Mirei had her partners already... was someone else supposed to be here?

Yuugo looked at his hands and brushed his Digivice with a thumb. He had to find Sayo soon. She could take care of herself... the problem was that he didn't think that she would bother.

"Will you wait for us here?" he asked Keren. "We'll bring the others back here, it'll be easier."

Keren looked up at the boy for a moment, a rare smile on her face. After a moment she was able to find her voice, hoarse from all her crying. "I... I'll be fine…"

"I'll make sure she stays that way." Dolce told him. The look on her face told him how protective she would be of her charge. "Find your friends. Not all Digimon are friendly. The farther away we get from CITY the higher the chance you'll find hostile Digimon. _Go._ "

Yuugo smiled and nodded. "We'll be careful and fast. Keep an eye on each other." He went after Falcor, who had decided running was next on the agenda. V.V. paused, lifting his head. Then he grimaced and went a different direction. He had an awful feeling, and someone had to check it out. At least he could handle himself.

* * *

"Just _perfect_. After accepting that whatever the hell sort of shit that _yuki-musume_ was selling, we find ourselves in an arboreal wonderland full of signposts and roads that lead nowhere, separates from the others and we lost half the stuff we got! All of the blankets and our pillows are gone! All we got is our backpacks and I don't know about you, but I don't have a tent or sleeping bag! We have no idea where the others are and why in the freezing depths of Dante's Inferno are you laughing?" Niko glared at his friend, who was giggling like a moron.

"It's just... You used the word 'arboreal'." Taiga tried to fight his laughing fit but even covering his mouth didn't stop him. "J-just... You tell your dad you don't like using fancy words, but you just used one."

Yes, they were indeed in arboreal forest of some description. The only differences, of course, were all the sign posts about, proposing differing speed limits, or stop signs where they didn't make sense. Dirt paths went every which way, leading either to moss covered trees or huge gnarls of roots, or otherwise impassable terrain. It wasn't amusing to Niko in the least, less so that his friend was falling into hysterics over all of this. Niko's eye was developing a twitch to them as he glared at his friend, beginning to grind his teeth.

As if to intentionally drive Niko insane tiny, slime-looking creatures started bouncing past them on the path, each looking around with beady black eyes. Then, before they could actually comment along the vein of 'what are _those_ ', what likely would be the equivalent of an army of them began trooping past in a parade of clumps. They were chanting in excitable coos, looking very pleased with themselves by the sounds of things.

Sayo sat on top of one of the clumps, looking around in utter bewilderment. Despite the confusion on her face, she didn't seem inclined to get off of the baby train. At the sight of Taiga and Niko, however, she flushed awkwardly and looked down. Then one of the creatures jumped into her lap, followed by another. Both of the little green slime creatures seemed unwilling to do anything until she started petting them. So she did.

Taiga paused his laughing for a moment to watch this happening incredulously, he and Niko glancing at each other. Then Taiga almost doubled over, laughing himself sick, while Niko began to chase after them all with Taiga trailing behind him.

"Whoa now, hold on! Wait for us!" The blond called after them. "That's our friend you're taking with you, at least let us come along too! Stop laughing, Taiga!"

"This is just too ridiculous, I can't help it!" The poor boy said, wiping tears that constantly streamed from his eyes. He almost tripped on a root but that only added to his hysterics.

Sayo watched the two of them in curious silence, still petting the little slimes as they kept nudging at her fingers. Objectively, she could see why this was so funny... and annoying. She had basically grown up with this. Tiny creatures, heck, even young children would look to her like she was the big sister or mom person to take care of everything. It was more of a thing for her to be resigned with now. Hence that morning with the ducks. Still. She supposed it was helpful for the moment, seeing as she had no idea where she was going.

She poked at one of the baby slimes by her leg. "Can you get them?" It let out a happy squeak of a coo and Sayo smiled before she could stop herself. Two clumps of babies turned and advanced on Niko and Taiga, going to pick them up as well. Humorously, they failed, planting both boys flat on their backs. Sayo almost laughed. Almost. She knew better than to laugh at the misfortune of others.

* * *

_"DAMNIT."_

Sashenka's ears perked, looking off in another direction and making the group pause. After a moment he gained a rather sad look. "Oh dear... I hope that one's not mine."

"Well you just jinxed yourself." His best friend snarked at him before leading the way to where the sound came from. Sasha only hung his head as he followed after the Plotmon.

Artemis snorted, then her large ears twitched. "Let's go after them," she said with a sigh. "I hear baby noises and where those derps are, trouble always follows, trust me." She went off.

Falcor frowned. "But we lost V.V.!"

Artemis waved a paw. "We always lose V.V.! He wanders. He'll come back."

Falcor pouted and then looked up at Yuugo, who was looking nervously around at the trees. "You're gonna be okay," he said quietly. "I'mma protect you."

Yuugo managed a smile. Honestly it was a small comfort, but he appreciated the cub for saying it anyway.

Eventually, the babies brought the three children into a small city of plush ground and blocks, huge, football sized eggs dotting everywhere. The eggs had a myriad of patterns and colors on them, ranging from simple stripes to more elaborate patterns like shapes and different hues in the shell.

"I feel sorry for the chickens." Taiga couldn't help but chuckle, even if he regretted it. His sides ached from all of the laughter.

They were being marched to a single building that was completely out of place with the rest of the landscape. It looked like a teapot mixed with a swan wearing a helmet.

"We're not chickens," squeaked one of the creatures in Sayo's lap. "The chickens wouldn't survive making our eggs!"

"Eggs are made through a very adult process!" Another chirped. "None of us know what it's called. Do you know?"

Sayo muffled laughter behind her hands. The she let out a small noise of surprise as they carried her to a circle of eggs and sat her down right in the middle. "Um... okay?"

"Now you are safe!" squeaked the first creature, nuzzling her hand. "You humans are going to be fine here! Now... attack!"

The clump let out delighted squeaks and proceeded to tackle Sayo with affection. Sayo couldn't even make a noise of surprise as her back hit the ground. She really was way too used to this.

"... Is she being violated by adorableness?" Niko asked incredulously, watching this go on with a somewhat disgusted expression. Taiga punched him on the arm, grinning at the sweet picture of the small girl being covered with adorable little babies. She eventually started to get into it and started giggling as well, trying to give every single one of them as much attention as she could with her tiny hands.

It was a shame that they were interrupted by a shout. "OI! GET AWAY FROM THE GIRL, YA BUNCH OF PUFF BALLS! WE GOT MORE IMPORTANT THINGS TO DO THAN YOUR PLAY TIME!"

Another Plotmon raced up to them, as well as a bipedal blue Shiba Inu, a lion cub wearing a golden collar engraved with strange markings and some sort of thing that looked like a cross between a ghost and a bunny. As well as a familiar boy.

"Hey, Yuugo-kun!" Taiga called out to him as he approached. "Your girlfriend is being violated by adorableness, you might wanna help her with that!"

The babies screeched and scattered, each with a small pout on their faces. They gave irritated squeaks and whines towards the new intruders, blowing bubbles at them in distaste. The ghost bunny scowled at this and popped them with waves of her ears.

"Threatening," she said flatly, moving closer.

Yuugo raised an eyebrow. "My what... oh right." He shook his head. "You are not the first person to accuse me of that one."

"Mama hasn't approved yet," Sayo commented as she caught her breath, sitting up slowly. Two of the slimes remained perched, one in her lap, the other on her head, along with a few more clinging to her free arm.

Yuugo let out a snort. "Right, right. Don't remind me." He reached down and gently pulled the few remaining babies off of her, all but two, the little green slimes glaring at him. He pet one, and it relaxed a little. "Come on you... there we go." He set them off and offered Sayo her cat-eared hat, which had fallen off in the crossfire. "You need that or Yuki won't recognize you when you get back."

Sayo let out a snort and then blinked. Artemis had reached her now and was looking down at her with her red eyes, expression pressed into a frown. "Um... hi?"

Artemis just stared for a few moments more. "Yep," she said then. "You're mine. And I'm going to teach you how to wreck things properly. Got it?"

Sayo nodded, not quite understanding, but figuring it was best to nod.

"Good."

Falcor made an amused noise, then trotted up to Taiga and Niko. "Hello!"

"Uh... Hi." Niko stared at him, then switched his staring over to Sashenka when the Shiba stepped up to him. The blue bipedal canine looked at him for a moment, before bowing.

"Greetings." He said, prim and proper. "I am Sashenka, your partner, and I already love you."

"Uh..." A drop of sweat rolled down Niko's forehead. That was an odd way to introduce yourself to someone. "Thanks?"

"However, I must insist you stop it with the cursing. It's unbecoming of a lad of your age." The buppy (blue puppy) immediately began to lecture, making Niko sigh. Well, there it was. He was partnered to a stick in the mud. Great. Wonderful. _Kill me now._

Artemis raised an eyebrow as she turned. Yuugo was laughing into his elbow, trying to feel bad but failing. "When you tell someone not to do something Sasha, nine times out of ten, they're gonna do it anyway."

"Including you!" Falcor said with a happy giggle.

"Especially me," Artemis countered, pulling Sayo up and looking her over. "Why in the name of the goddess are you so small? Can you even fight?"

Sayo nodded. "I-I take classes."

Artemis almost smiled. "Good. Then all I have to do is help you enjoy it."

Taiga shook his head at the pair, grinning at the goings on still. He'd be laughing still if his sides didn't hurt. He didn't know why, but everything was so funny. Even if he got some niggling sense of familiarity with the atmosphere of this place, he didn't let it kill his cheer. That is, until the remaining Plotmon walked up to him, brushing past Falcor, even if he didn't need to.

"So, sir grins a lot. I guess since you're the last one here, that makes you mine." The puppy began to speak, looking up at him imperiously. For some reason, Taiga found him so familiar. He certainly sounded familiar, Taiga somehow recognizing the speech pattern of the cream colored pup. "I guess I better introduce myself. My name's-"

"Fergus?" Taiga asked before the Digimon could say his name. The Plotmon's mouth hung open for a moment, floundering slightly.

"How did you...?" He asked, trailing off. Taiga supposed it was because he knew he looked similarly haunted.

"I... Don't know..." The boy replied, scratching the back of his head. "You... Just look like a Fergus to me."

Well. This was awkward.

"Guys we should find V.V. and go back to that girl," Falcor murmured. "We promise we'd go back."

Yuugo frowned. "We're still missing people. We never found that Mirei girl while we were looking for you all." He probably shouldn't be worried, considering she had survived that blizzard without batting an eye. Still though, if she was part of their group, they needed to look out for her too.

* * *

For the first time in years, literally, years, Rina was having the time of her life. How? She was fighting for her life of course.

Now, don't confuse Shinomiya Rina with a complete Blood Knight. She loved her adoptive family now that she was used to them, and going to a normal school and having normal friends was positively _epic_ for all of the intellectual pitfalls. However, Rina still got a kick out of when her blood was pumping in her ears, when she was active and moving and doing things. She loved having a little dose of fear. It was healthy after all. And right now, that was what she was doing.

She backflipped and dodged another scythe swipe, laughing as loud as she could. "C'mon, c'mon buddy!" Rina chirped. "Where's your sense of humor? Your morals! I just wanted a couple of apples to cook, I don't see the fuss, ya know! I'd pay you back!"

"Meat apple trees do tend to be guarded to an absurd extent around here." The speaker was crouched on a tree bough, watching with eyes that almost seemed catlike. A chilly dagger rested in Mirei's hand, the other keeping her balance. Her pups were standing on tree roots, fangs bared and ready to pounce. "How many did you try to take?"

"Four." Rina shrugged. "And they were looking ready to fall anyway."

"Hm." Mirei rolled her eyes. This one seemed odd already. "Suppose we should get on with this again."

Rina _liked_ this girl. She was full of fun ideas. "Yeah yeah! Let's GO!" She stuck out her tongue at the insect.

The giant green insect monster snarled at Rina, completely ignoring the banter between the two human girls. "Stay still, you thief!" He bellowed, taking another few swipes at her with his massive, scythe-like talons. The monster looked like a preying mantis, only without eyes and two scythe blades on his arms. He usually wasn't a bad fellow, if a bit temperamental and with a genocidal hatred of Virus types (Most Digimon were like that, really!). But he usually kept that under control.

Some girl waltzing into his meat apple orchard and plucking some of them without giving him time to answer if it was okay for her to have any for free (which would have been a resounding _no_ , everyone paid Bit for them, even Swanmon of the Village of Beginnings did), which of course led to this entire kerfuffle. She even had the gall to taunt him over it! Oh, if only he could use his actual attacks, he would have turned both this girls to ribbons. But no, they were still in his orchard, which meant he had to deal only physical attacks and stay well away from his trees, lest he chop them down while trying to deal with these intruders.

"I swear I will make you pay for those apples, one way or another!" He roared, taking another swipe at her. The little creature she was fast for looking like such a dopey specimen. Some sort of bipedal ape-like critter that wore a second skin, which of course was somehow open and exposing another underskin and pale flesh underneath that. The only other critters that were even somewhat like this were angels and devils and their ilk, but she looked like neither. In fact, from her speed, he judged her to be almost like a Rinkmon only without the ridiculous armor and skates. Bothersome little pest…

"Yes," Rina said, voice suddenly cold and dry, despite the permanent smile. "Stay still when you're waving a sharp, object at me. Screw that." She slipped to the side again, down the tree and off to the side. "Sorry!" She bounced. "I'd pay for the apples right now, but I lost my bag when I fell." Years ago she fell. So she had no clue where that thing was. There had been cool stuff in there! Ah well, she could work something out. "Heck, I'd work for you if you let me! I can gather apples and stuff a lot more easily than you."

Mirei almost snorted. This one was certainly eccentric... then again, her aura was different from the others. That would explain why. She reached into her bag, She had kept her money pouch in here this entire time? well, it was a last resort. She'd wait and see.

Ivy huffed. "Darn idiots, the lot of them."

The giant mantis Digimon paused, wings buzzing. The angry, territorial predator in Snimon demanded the girl be cut the ribbons. The businessman in him agreed she needed to pay for what she took, but that perhaps the more civilized way of making her earn her apples and work back the damages she had caused. Having another helping hand would be nice, he supposed.

Just as he was about to respond however, something crashed down onto his back and smashed him into the ground, due to the velocity behind its impact. He tried to thrash it off, but whatever it was held on tight. All his struggles ceased when a searing pain stabbed into the back of his head, and with that Snimon, the owner of the main food production company in all of File Island, knew no more.

Blank, white eyes gleamed maliciously out from under a dull, mud colored mane, purple fur interrupted be skeleton protrusions. Red claws which pulled from the wound left behind. A muzzled pulled back in a cross between a victorious smile and a hungry scowl. The large, humanoid, undead Lion thing let out a roar, throwing its head back as it began to draw in the golden particles that Snimon's body was turning in to, mane flying wildly.

Rina let out a particularly creative swear word. This... had just gotten a lot worse. And still no V.V. Her little buddy wasn't dead, he was way, way, _way_ too stubborn for that. And she needed him here. If she couldn't evolve him, there was no way in hell she could get the kid out of here without dying. She was too rusty. And Rina outright refused to die in someone else's world.

She zipped up her hoodie and began to climb. She'd need more height, less places to balance. Meant less places he could reach for her.

Mirei shuddered from down below. That little display had brought up memories she had not wanted to recall in the slightest. She righted herself. She couldn't leave Rina and run, not when that could send this _thing_ , because clearly he wasn't a sane Digimon anymore, flying towards the central hub of File CITY. She looked down at her Digivice. It wasn't much but if she could get his movements down, they could at least slow him. Her partners darted off into the grove, looking for places to avoid his gaze. It was safer than hanging around, at least, for the moment.

The undead lion's roar died down after he had taken in, he looked lost for a moment. He snorted, shaking his head, before his nose caught the scene of _new prey_. He turned his head around, trying to catch the scent and where it was strongest, before looking up at Rina and her perch. So... The littling thought it could escape him that way?

His claws gleamed slightly and lengthened before he raced at her tree, slashing through the trunk of it with minimal effort. It began to groan as it fell, him grinning all the while as he waited for the new morsel to become available, not caring he had destroyed a valuable meat apple tree. The littling couldn't escape from him that way.

Rina almost laughed and swore in the same motion, then pushed off of the branch, breaking it off and flipping back. She skidded in the grass and coughed. "Man this is a great first day," she muttered, half-meaning it. "I really wish I hadn't gotten my knives confiscated now."

Mirei grimaced, then shut her eyes. Ice began to snake up the monster's legs, aiming to keep him still. They weren't able to kill him. There was no way. Maybe she could hold him though, maybe-

The monster glanced down for a moment before snorting, shaking his leg. The ice broke for a moment but stubbornly began to reform. He snarled, glancing around, trying to find the source for this, but Mirei had hidden herself too well. He stamped and shook his leg, snarling louder, but the ice was far too tenacious. It soon covered his entire leg and spread to his other, making him howl in frustration.

Rina felt the grin spread across her face. That kid was getting a seriously good knife set for this one. Every part of her but one wanted to run right in and kick the freak right where it hurt, but it'd be likely that she would miss. Damn it. Just one good hit to the face would go perfectly well. She needed to get to the CITY first, they needed to know there was a psycho on the loose!

Before she could act however, a blue blur slammed into the monster from behind. The recoil sent him spinning, but V.V., well used to speed, righted himself and bolted around. "RINA!" he shouted. "What crap have you gotten yourself into now?"

Rina brightened. "V.V.!" The caught the dragon with ease, spinning him around and grinning, cuddling with him for a few moments before she put him down. "Where've you been? Thought someone ate you!"

"Oh please!" V.V pretended to glare for a few seconds, then jumped between her and the monster. "Oh damn, it's _this_ jerk."

Mirei sighed. She wasn't sure if they had another piece of cannon fodder or a potential help.

The undead lion didn't feel the attack, but the sight of new prey trying to interfere with his hunt only incensed him further. He roared again, arms tensing and bulging before the sickening sound of ripping flesh echoed across the orchard. Two new, scythe-like blades stuck out from his forearms now, very familiar blades, which he used to instantly shatter the ice around its lower torso with a single picking motion. Then he was loping at V.V. and Rina, saliva flying from his open mouth as he bared down at them, looking fully intent to swallow them both whole.

Rina let out another curse and rolled to the side. "What did you do to this guy? I haven't even hit him yet!"

"Exist apparently!" V.V scrambled to dodge the gaping maw. "Evolve me, hurry up!"

Rina threw the device from her pocket to her other hand, dodging another lunge of blades. "This is a good sweater, you bastard!" She shrieked as V.V began to glow.

Mirei concentrated again. She would have to jump out soon. She whistled as softly as possible and Ivy and Rue peeked out.

The undead lion roared as it bared down on them bringing its arm blades down at them. However, he paused when when two large hands show out of the glowing form that V.V. had become as the little dragon got between him and Rina. The rest of V.V.'s form grew as well, becoming roughly half the size of the overly large creature. V.V.s form matured from a young dragon to a more adolescent one, his tail and snout lengthening. Horns replaced his floppy ears and the horn on his nose had grown as well. He bared his teeth in his longer snout, longer, stronger arms taking the weight of the lion baring down on him for a moment as the ground under his feet began to crater.

The lion snarled at the blue and white dragon, pressing down on him more and inching his arm blades toward him. As strong as this new creature was, he was still young and untested.

V.V. snarled right back. He refused to give despite it, pushing back and swinging one fist, knocking at the scythes and making them splinter. Rina whooped. All right, progress! Now the next thing to do was lead this guy away and escape him. A settlement was probably bad but... they may have no choice.

Rue and Ivy looked at each other and promptly bolted. They needed to get help. If Mirei tried to help, it would probably be too much for her.

The lion roared with pain, backing off and holding its bleeding arms tenderly. Of course the scythes wouldn't be as strong as he normally was. Mere Adult level data was so weak. Fine then, he'd go all natural for this. The undead lion roared again, running at V.V. once more with his red claws lengthened once more.

V.V. rolled to the side, wishing for wings. That failing, he opened his mouth and fired a blue arrow from his mouth. Left his throat smoking but he ignored it and pressed forward. Rina hid herself once more and saw Mirei, hand pressed on the ground. The air was cold around her. Cool.

...That was a bad pun.

Then a freezing dagger landed by her hands, then another. Rina grinned. Oh _this_ , this she knew very well. She just had to wait.

The arrow hit the lion in the side of his face and exploded, but he shoved on through the smoke and dust that enveloped him with another roar, racing after him. It didn't matter how many times V.V. shot him or how many trees he darted around, the lion gunned right for him, slashing at him with his claws. V.V. was lucky he was the more agile one or else he'd be falling victim to the lion's Nerotoxin Claws, which were so deadly only a minor scratch would have proven fatal.

Eventually his back was to Rina, V.V. finally managing to lose him. He snuffed around, growling angrily, but completely wide open for her daring little plan.

Rina grinned and crept overhead. If she was honest, this wasn't much of a plan. It was a stalling technique, to be frank. She knew battle, she knew fights, and she knew when she was outmatched. Even with that Mirei girl, she was definitely screwed now. That Snimon was one thing, but she was rusty. Oh well. They had to do what they had to do.

She took one dagger, not even aware of the chill, and threw, aiming right for the kidney area. The other, she moved to another area before throwing, this for the spine.

The kidney one hit its mark, catching the lion completely by surprise. It sank into his flesh and made him roar in pain, stumbling over himself as he wandered away from the point where the stabbing, cold pain introduced into his side. The second dagger missed completely. He followed the trajectory of where it fell and looked up into the trees once more to see Rina sitting in the branches.

After a moment of staring, he roared again, throwing a hand toward her - violet fire leaping from it and flying toward her, forming into the face of a giant lion whose mouth opened to crunch her in its jaws.


	6. Of Lions and Little Girls

The pups moved as fast as their stubby legs could carry them. Ivy and Rue, long used to working together, moved to cover each others' back as they ran. It was a little more difficult without Mirei to circle but they had practice at it, knowing better than to trip now. Ivy glanced around, noting no followers. Of course, they were tiny little mons and their senses were limited. They could be wrong. They couldn't risk thinking about it. The only thing that mattered was forward

Their paws were sore from all of the walking and running. They were too used to Earth soil and it honestly sucked. Despite this, however, they were perfectly capable of running like PicoDevimons out of the Dark World when they had to.

Case in point, the two of them managed to make it close to File CITY, close enough to catch a glimpse of that blond girl, one of the chosen ones. Ivy made an oath of exasperation as they slowed down. Of course they found the broken one. Or at least teary. She was either one, to be honest. Rue nudged Ivy, almost knocking her over as she pawed up to Keren and her partner. They had never met, but honestly, that didn't matter right now. Partners were partners and this one had to help.

"Excuse me," she said, silencing her sister with a paw to the mouth. "You are one of the Chosen, correct? Did you see where the others went?"

Keren jerked upright almost immediately. With Dolce there, she'd gotten so comfortable she'd almost fallen asleep, even though she didn't know why. The flying hamster had already felt like the mother she wished she had, and she wasn't embarrassed to admit that.

Dolce's paw gently pat her arm, calming her immediately, even though she looked miserable about freezing up like that. "We do." Dolce answered for her. She turned to regard the pups, peering at them curiously. "Who wishes to know?"

"They... Were with the girl who brought us all here..." Keren informed her quietly. Dolce's eyebrow rose curiously.

"Oh? So there was another? And she has twin partners? Both of them Plotmons?" The hamster wondered softly. Then she gave a smirk. "Hm. Fergus is going to be delighted to see all of you." The irony, of course, would be that he wouldn't be. Not at first.

Ivy scowled behind Rue's paw. She hated hated _hated_ mind games. Bad enough that they had been stuck keeping secrets for so long, stuck pretending they couldn't talk, stuck pretending nothing important was going on beyond them when they all knew it. Mind games and screw things when their child was in danger was not okay. "Mind leading us?" Her voice was muffled, but her words were clear. "Or you want V.V. and her kid to die too?"

Rue smacked her over the head. "Just go head back, you idiot." She shoved her to the side. "We need a bead on where they are and you're faster than me." Ivy looked to protest and Rue gave her another shove. "Pride or partner?"

Ivy scoffed, but left, running as fast as she could. Rue sighed, shaking her floppy ears. "Sorry," she said, giving Keren in particular an apologetic look. "She means well. But we really do need to hurry. That thing is going to kill both of them if we're not careful. It's already killed a Snimon."

Keren looked at her in alarm, her mouth open. She glanced at Ivy's retreating form for a moment. The poor girl looked like she already wanted to cry. Dolce calmed her with another comforting pat, but she looked business as she turned her eyes back to Rue. "We don't know where they went exactly, but I can follow their scent well enough. It's only been a few minutes since they've left, and I thought I heard one of them yelling soon after they left." She stated. "Come. Follow me. You too, darling." She urged Keren to stand. The blond girl did, wobbling only a little due to her legs having started to fall asleep themselves. With that, all three of them were off, somewhat slowed by the unsteady footing the path provided them.

After a few minutes of running they followed Dolce, who flew ahead of them, into a place very obviously familiar to the hamster because she barely paused before pressing forward into the plush, egg filled grounds. The Village of Beginnings was a place of both good and bad memories for her group of Digimon, who had all lived and been raised there their entire lives. (Well, just about.) Working there, too. That is, until…

She scowled and wiped her face of the tears that had risen at her eye corners. No, she couldn't think about that. She needed to press on and get her group together. A Snimon had been killed, and there was only one Snimon on File Island. She knew who the Plotmons were talking about. This was very bad, and if they wanted to help get the Plotmons partner and whoever else was there out of their situation alive they needed all of them there.

She caught sight of her group and their humans (thank the Goddess they were all there) near Swanmon's house - apparently exchanging pleasantries with the caretaker of this primary village - and bee-lined right for them. Swanmon appeared to be distracted chiding the babies that were sitting all over the purple girl… and of course they were ignoring it.

"Everyone!" She called, trying to get their attention. "We have trouble!"

Falcor's soft ears twitched and he turned to see Dolce with another Digimon and oh yes, the human that needed a few doses of lemonade! Couldn't forget her. She smelled very nice. He lifted his head from his doze. "With what Dolce," he called cheerfully. "What do we need to stomp?"

Artemis swatted at his ear and straightened. "Who is the new kid?" She nodded at Keren, then turned back to Sayo, who was now clutching the Pabumon in her lap in surprise.

The Plotmon dipped her head. "My name is Rue," she said quickly, knowing to be pleasant but wishing she could be her sister and rude to get them moving. "My sister and partner are in danger, as is V.V. with his. We need to help them. The enemy has already killed someone. Please don't waste too much time, please."

Sayo frowned and looked up at the group. Yuugo shifted beside her. She nodded at him, trying to drudge up her courage. "W-Which way?"

The baby squeaked disagreement in her lap.

"V.V.'s in trouble?" Fergus asked the new Plotmon in surprise, his grumpy expression in seeing another one melting into one of concern.

"Oh dear..." Sasha muttered, looking back at Swanmon. The caretaker of the Village of Beginnings looked shocked. After a moment, he turned back to the group. Someone had died already... That was why Swanmon had frozen up. This wasn't good. "Who... Who died?"

"Snimon." Dolce replied, expression dour. The name was enough to make both Sasha and Fergus instantly wilt in place.

"Not that old bug!" Fergus cried. "Snimon was my boss! He always gave me prime meat apples on top of my daily Bit for all my hard work!"

"Who is going to care for the orchard now...?" Sashenka asked softly. That was the best food source this little city had after everything that had happened to it

"... I need to go tell Jijimon this immediately." Swanmon immediately took flight. "Don't rush into this, children! I'll get help from the rest of the village, they'll take care of this!"

"Screw that! I'm getting even with the asshole who did this!" Fergus yelled back at her before racing off. Taiga, who had been watching this along with Niko in a sort of numb silence, jerked back to reality and began to chase after the little pup.

"Hey, wait a moment!" The boy called to his partner. "Think this over! If you rush into this you'll get hurt!" Of course, said angry puppy heard none of this. Therefore he went after him.

"Goddamnit." Niko sighed, before he raced off as well. Sashenka gave the rest of the group an apologetic look.

"Fergus would know the way." He told them. "If we all intend to help, we might want to follow them all."

Falcor let out a low growl of delight. "I'm in, can't let him have all the glory-fun stuff!" He blinked innocently up at Yuugo. "Right? Right? We're gonna fight anyway, aren't we?" Yuugo blinked back, a bit like an owl. Then he nodded. The lion cub would have punched a fist if he could make one, instead only purred for a moment and rubbed his head against Yuugo's pant leg. Then he raced on ahead, making to catch up with Fergus and his angry mach speed.

Yuugo glanced at Sayo. "Ready?"

Sayo smiled a little, her grip on his hand almost painful. "Y-Yeah... we should hurry…"

Rue sighed in relief and Artemis shot past them. "Well, at least you aren't a complete wuss on this stuff," mused the rabbit.

Yuugo peered over at Keren and Dolce. "Are you okay to go? Shouldn't you rest?"

Keren looked uncertain, like she still didn't want to exactly be there or do anything, but after seeing the look on Fergus's face, so heartbroken and then so resolved, she found she couldn't keep thinking about herself anymore. She'd come here to save the world, hadn't she? She couldn't be selfish. She couldn't allow herself to think of only her wants. Like with her brother. So she shook her head, looked at him with barely shimmering eyes and answer, "I... I want to help... As much as I can."

"Don't force yourself, darling." Dolce told her softly, flying up close to her and looking her in the eye. "If you still need rest…"

Keren shook her head. "Need to help." She said, despite her shivering. "Can't... Can't live with myself otherwise…"

Yuugo blinked, looking a little lost. Then he frowned and shook his head. "Okay, just be careful. We have people waiting for us after all." He took off at a run.

Sayo gave the other girl a worried glance through her bangs. "Like Yuugo-kun said, be careful, okay?" She was already so fragile after all. if she shattered and died here, the people she left behind would be sad. People felt that way all the time about people they loved. At least, she assumed that was how it worked. She went after the group, feeling her lungs constrict in her ribs. Something about this whole thing made her head hurt.

Rue glanced at them. "I'll watch your backs," she offered. "Least I can do."

Keren gave Rue a nod, watching the kids she was stuck with run off ahead for a moment. She had no idea why they were so concerned about her, they probably had problems that were more pressing than hers ever would be. Like what they needed to do. Speaking of, that finally got her butt in gear and she raced off after them, Dolce and Rue by her side.

* * *

Rina swore again at the sight of the weapon, twisting to the side and landing on all fours. "Stubborn bastard." She was so lucky she knew how to move or she would have died ages ago. There was another roar followed by a lunge and she ducked, V.V. moving between them and pushing him away. This guy had to be made of something tough. Not as tough as her, probably, but still tough.

Mirei continued to watch, humming off rhythm. Then she moved, gathering the water from the air and aiming the pieces of ice towards eyes, nostrils, wounds, anything that would cause pain or lethal damage if she was lucky. There was almost no cover left from all of his cuts. She had to act.

The two Digimon wrestled for a moment, ice going ignored, the undead lion monster snarling as it was pelted with ice. Its temper flared and pushed V.V. more until he was able to finally overpower the smaller dragon and smash him down on his back, whereupon he grabbed one of V.V.'s legs and lifted him up to smash him into the ground again and again. He wound up, spinning in place and dragging his victim into the air and smashing him through a line of meat apple trees, roaring into the sky when a piece of ice finally smacked him in the eye.

Fergus paused when V.V. landed right in front of him and began to climb to his feet, obviously aching.

"You look like hell." The pup snarked, looking at the bruises and dirt covering V.V.'s, admittedly larger form. Damn bastard, when had he done that?

"Good," V.V. grunted. "We finally have something in common." He fired an arrow of wind from his mouth. "Mind helping or you wanna just get shot?" He would feel bad about snapping when he hadn't just been smashed around the ground multiple times. What a mood killer. Seriously, his pride hurt.

Rina turned her head, pushing back slightly. Reinforcements. Would they be helpful? She caught Mirei trying to move again out of the corner of her eye and shook her head. Mirei winced but nodded, slinking away and picking Ivy up at the sight of her so she didn't try to fight. The pup glared. Rina turned back around and raised her fists. "Ready V.V.?"

"Do I gotta choice?" He turned away from Fergus and spat mud, attacking again. He was always ready. That was how it worked.

"Sure, who is the guy who-" Fergus turned his head to the purple furred lion who let out an outraged roar when V.V.'s attack hit him right in his open mouth. He grimaced in sympathetic pain and the distinct feeling of 'oh, damnit'. "Aw man, not this guy... And he killed Snimon, too?" The others managed to catch up with him at that point, an army of children and their partners stopping several feet away as the lion thing recovered.

V.V. scowled. "Fraid so. Can you evolve?" He assumed no but it wouldn't hurt to ask.

"Not since I evolved to this form a few weeks ago, no." Fergus scowled. He and Sashenka were the youngest, with Sasha evolving a couple days before him. Artemis and Dolce were the oldest, since they'd evolved at the same time. Well, along side V.V. and... he shook his head. He couldn't think about that right now. Now was the time to Fight.

Yuugo winced and yanked on Falcor to stop him from jumping at the enemy. The cub's nose was twitching a mile a minute, snarls leaving his lips. "What _is_ that?"

"Someone with less sanity than me," Artemis deadpanned. "Get ready to run."

Sayo nodded, crouching a little. She was visibly shaking, but made herself breathe slow, careful gulps. It was a hunter, wasn't it? It would go after prey, right? So if she kept panicking, they would turn at the smell or something, maybe?

Rina turned to look at them. At the sight of Niko and Taiga, she waved with a flap of her hand. "Oh, hi guys!"

"Rina?" Niko yelled, staring at her in shock. "What the hell are you doing here!?"

"I think we have other things to worry about here, man!" Taiga reminded him as the giant purple lion finally recovered, snuffing at all of them and growling.

Keren stared in shock at the giant monster, shaking harder than Sayo was. Even Dolce's presence wasn't calming her now. Not with this thing staring at them all like food. "Run when me and Artemis say, children." Dolce advised them all, glaring her wood green eyes at the monster. "Run and hide. If you see a path that goes directly into a tree, hide in it. You'll be safe from this monster in it. Try and stay together."

"Dolce, you should too." Artemis shifted her stance, ears beginning to vibrate. "You need to keep your human standing. You can come back for us. Falcor, can you be ready to intercept?" The cub nodded, ears back and fangs bared. "Atta boy."

Dolce frowned, glancing at Artemis. "I'm not about to leave any of you again." She said. "The last time we did... We lost one of our number. I am not about to face that again. We all fight together or we all run together. No one leaves anyone behind again."

Artemis wanted to roll her eyes in exasperation but knowing the sensitivity of the subject, decided against it. Sentimentality was dangerous around a psychopath after all. She was going to give the mother hen such a Goddess attuned lecture when this was over.

Sayo gave Yuugo's hand a single tug and he nodded, the pair of them moving together. "T-Taiga-san," she said, giving a quick gesture. "Y-You should help K-Keren-chan, she..." She trailed off and shook her head. Most of her bravery had drained out of her at this point.

"Right!" Taiga immediately grabbed up Keren, throwing her onto his back. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders as he grabbed her legs under her knees and began to run after them.

Rue hesitated, then opened her mouth and let out a feral screaming howl, aiming to send the waves of sound blasting into the beast.

Rina turned back to the fight. "Go on and hide, guys!" She wasn't hiding. She was already on this guy's shit list. She knew how that would end up "V.V.! Take another hit!"

"I am not built for this," he muttered, then raised her head. "Got it, Rina!" He sprang into the air, aiming to crash both feet into furry and crazy's skull.

Niko shook his head. "Why aren't you running too, Rina?! Come on!" He went ignored. The stubborn boy was still sitting there, even as the Digimon all began to attack. Sashenka raced in to deliver a barrage of punches to their foe's chest, Fergus copied Rue and howled to add more to the disorienting sound. Dolce belched out a wave of purple colored fog at him as well.

Rina turned and bolted towards his voice, much faster than humans normally should. "YOU DAMN IDIOT!" she snapped, knocking Niko to roll. She made to shove him ahead, towards a tree. Just because she was staying behind was no excuse for nobility to kick in and make him stand there.

As Falcor and Artemis raced in to add their attacks to the midst, the giant purple lion stepped back and avoided all of them. In fact, he darted into the brush off to the side at the sound of her voice, every single attack blasted at him missing him completely.

"Get back here, coward!" Fergus tried to roar, but his tiny body only made it sound like a yelp. A fierce yelp, but a yelp none the less. He even began to chase after the big guy, darting right into the brush as well.

Mirei's eyes widened behind her glasses and she ran, shoving her body forward with icy wind. This had to stop, she had to slow him down and strategy was dead at this point, there was no way to strategize one adult and seven children against what was obviously beyond them. So she had to pray that being an anomaly existence would be enough.

She gave one last push off of the tree, Ivy leaping from her arms, and made it between the retreating humans and the enraged lion. Skidding to a halt in the grass, she raised herself up to her full, diminutive height and raised her fists, icy wind wrapping around her and managing a desperate sort of three-note song. Her papa would have killed her if he saw her doing something this absurd.

The absurd seemed to stop it though. The lion skidded to a half as it stopped before her, the Digimon behind him doing the same. He was too close to Mirei to even risk attacking at the moment. But somehow, for some reason, he stopped. The lack of sound and movement from everything made the running children Mirei was protecting slow to a stop and look back. Keren could feel Taiga stiffen up and she did the same, both of them watching this with barely contained terror. Niko poked his head out of the hiding tree Rina shoved him into, his glasses askew, and about to yell at her, but he stopped at seeing her gobsmacked expression and turned to look. Then he had the same reaction everyone else did.

Mirei was _too close_.

The lion was blinking at her, white eyes almost luminescent in his mane of hair. He stared at her, wondering why this little one had dived in front of him. That was what saved her for the precious few seconds it took to catch her scent. Then his eyes widened and he nosed closer to her, taking it in.

Mirei blinked, then a second time, the only indication of her surprise. She'd learned to stop flinching while on the run; it really delayed things, like her escape attempts. She wanted to move. Every fight or flight instinct in her brain said to jab icicles and throw trees and basically do anything and everything to hurt and escape this thing before it killed her and everyone else.

Yet she couldn't. Her legs were stiff. She let him nose closer, watching his empty eyes and large body hulk closer with utter bewilderment. She opened and closed her mouth a few times. "... H-Hello..." Now that she could actually look at the monster, something... something felt off, familiar, painfully familiar. But... how? Almost all of her family in this world, human or otherwise, should be dead. She had seen almost all of them torn to pieces, admittedly part of that being through a haze of utter agony because of what had been happening when their killers had arrived but everyone left afterward bar maybe one if she was lucky, was gone. So where did she know this creature from?

The undead lion's jaw worked for a few moments, guttural sounds coming forth. It would have been threatening if, for some reason, those blank eyes didn't start filling with tears. Then it said something, something that alarmed not only the small girl but her partners, something that someone who didn't know her would never have been able to guess to call her. He murmured almost gently, with a great amount of difficulty, calling her "Darling... little... Mirei…"

Mirei paled, beginning to tremble. Her tense posture dropped and she rubbed at her eyes, hating herself. She knew those words, few called her them because she had no friends. "G-Grandpa..." She reached out before she could stop herself. "I-is that you? What h-happened?"

Rue swore violently, shifting closer and blocking Rue from reach. "What did they _do_ to you?" The they was irrelevant because he was alive. Maybe they could fix him but what had been done? That was the most important thing.

The lion let her hand touch him. He didn't react to it, even when her touch, for some reason, made his fur and skin burn. Sizzling smoke came off of his cheek as he stared at her. He tried to talk, but his throat wouldn't work the way he wanted it to anymore. Only guttural sounds came from his voice box now, visibly frustrating him. Eventually he backed off of Mirei, shaking his head, a long, drawn out, sad moan of "Noooooooooooooo..." eventually coming from his throat. After that, he bolted, racing headlong in the forest in a random direction. Now that some part of the old him had been awakened, the shame became too much. He couldn't let her see him like this.

Taiga put Keren back down, the girl still trembling, and wandered over to Mirei. She was staring numbly off in the direction the giant lion monster had run off, trembling even harder than Sayo and Keren were, tears beginning to trail down her cheeks. He reached out for her, hesitating a little, before gently placing his hand comfortingly on her shoulder. The girl didn't even tense. She merely looked up at him, so sad and exhausted.

Mirei struggled for a moment, visibly working for words. Her purple eyes stared brokenly through his own. For a moment, they looked at each other and a spark of something almost made itself known. Then, her eyes rolled into the back of her head and she fell backwards, collapsing to the ground.

Ivy and Rue yelped and bolted for her, nuzzling her face.

Rina got off of Niko and went over to them. "Poor girl," she murmured, leaning over the puppies. "Wore herself out pretty fierce."

Niko stood as well, watching Taiga and Rina kneel with the girl on the ground. Like the other children and these monsters the found themselves with, they began to converge on the small girl and just... Watch her. She had completely passed out. He winced when V.V. glowed, returning to his smaller form and joined Rina's side. Keren gladly took Dolce back into her arms as she came up, standing a little off to the side.

Yuugo glanced over at Keren. "You all right?"

Keren looked over at Yuugo, looking so lost and terrified but even still, after a moment, shored up her shoulders and softly replied, "I'm alright... Need to focus on her. She needs more help now."

Yuugo made a small noise of discontent. "I think she's getting all of the help she can," he said softly, but let it drop.

"Is she going to be alright?" Taiga asked his friend, looking oh so concerned about the yuki-musume, not that Niko could quite figure out why.

Rina grimaced. "I'm thinking so." She examined her with surprising delicacy. She had a feeling it was simple exhaustion. "The girl ran on empty to get us all here, I'm guessing. Couple with the adrenaline and expending of energy from this fight and that last little bombshell, she probably just couldn't keep her eyes open anymore."

Sayo ventured closer, touching the cold skin. Mirei didn't stir, chest moving in slow intervals. "S-She might also be dehydrated," she finally managed. "She used ice as well... so…"

Rina clicked her tongue. "Right, got it, plan. This place is doomed, we need to get to the nearest settlement, get supplies, get rest, herbs, help, etc." She looked at the Digimon. "Get herbs, please, if you can, and bags. We're gonna need a way to carry these apples. We're not keepin' all of them, but it's better to get 'em to a town than leave 'em here to get stolen, what's left anyway."

"I'll get the residents's attention!" Falcor had perked right back up again, and hurried off in the direction they had come.

Rina looked around. Honestly, she wanted to carry the girl herself but she was the only conscious one she was sure could fight off a threat without a panic attack, so she needed her hands free. She glanced up at Taiga. "You wanna be the one to carry her back? She's likely lighter than Niko, if it helps."

"Yeah, and smaller too." Taiga smirked slightly, even though Niko glared at the both of them. Taiga's smirk fell into a sad frown as he looked down at Mirei once more. He gently began to maneuver her, with the girls' help, unto his back and hefted her up, coiling his arms under her knees. He shivered slightly. Goodness, she felt almost like an ice cube.

"So, we waiting for the tiny lion to come back before we move? Because I think waiting here after we get as much of these apples that we can carry will be a bad idea." Niko reported, even as he was filling everyone's backpacks with as many apples as he could without throwing out other things or encumbering them. Sashenka was helping, along with Fergus, who was frowning at the sad state the orchard was in. Trees left and right were destroyed or uprooted, the ground was pockmarked with craters and the path was completely ruined. Even if someone took the orchard over after Snimon's death, then they'd have to rebuild from the ground up. The orchard was effectively lost.

Yuugo nudged Sayo, who frowned at him in concern. Then he raised his voice. "Falcor's warning them we're coming, so we should get on, I think." He took the bags from Niko and passed them on.

Rina shook her head. "Go on," she said. "I'll bring up the rear with V.V." Her hands slipped into her pockets. Worse came to worse, there were less than savory ways to get everyone outta dodge. Hopefully she didn't have to use any of them.

Artemis went up to Fergus as the humans spoke and planned, then paused to think it over. She was not a reassuring mon. Far from it, honestly. but hey, there was an opportunity. "When we get done," she said. "We'll bring it back to life again." Was certainly better than having nothing to look forward to.

Fergus looked over at her a moment. He scrutinized her, that frown not leaving his face, but he took her words as she meant them, gratitude entering his eyes. "Yeah." He nodded slightly. "If we live long enough."

Artemis snorted. "We'd better. I don't fancy having to see the end of the world."

Fergus turned away with a lighter scowl on his face, heading over to trot next to Taiga as the group began to leave. Niko hefted his and Taiga's bag both to allow him to carry Mirei without over encumbering himself. He already knew that until they got Mirei to a place where they could rest, they'd all have to take turns carrying this thing, because his and Taiga's bags together were _heavy_.

Keren was near Taiga as she held Dolce, right by his side. She looked both withdrawn and concerned over Mirei's well-being, glancing at her. Taiga smiled at her when he noticed her constant glancing, making her look down at her feet with a cute little blush rising to her cheeks.

Rina saw this and stifled a laugh. "You're so mean, Taiga. Interrupting a blossoming friendship like that."

"I knew Fergus would have a darn heartbreaker for a partner," Artemis mused. "Nice guy, stubborn Digimon, it fits. Almost as bad as Sasha's."

"D-Don't tease." Sayo tried to scold and failed. She wasn't much of a scolding person in general but around strangers it wasn't much better.

V.V. snickered despite his exhaustion. "Artemis? Not be a jerk? Sorry, girl, you're doomed."

The levity, as bewildering as it was, helped somewhat.


	7. What Is and Isn't

Swanmon cursed the weakness of her wings as she flew. They had poor stamina, but that was the folly of relying less and less upon the sky as time went on. There were also airborne attacks to worry about. She needed her wings more for hands. There were getting to be too many children, she really could use more help. Dolce was a _dear_ about it, of course, but one helper was simply not enough anymore. That was irrelevant now. She arced sharply, flying to circle around to the center of File CITY, skidding to a half just in front of a creaking building.

She hoped that old fellow was in there. Someone had to not panic. Snimon, her good, dear friend, was gone and there were human children out there. She could only hope, she had to hope that those children were safe...

"Jijimon," she called through the doorway. "We have a crisis! Are you here?"

After a moment of tense waiting, she was relieved to hear his reply. Good to know he hadn't died without her noticing. In this world, the worst could happen. "Yes, yes," He called through the door. "Give me a moment. I was finishing something." A minute passed before he came out of the room. He was an odd creature, a hairy little man wearing a burlap sack and leather gloves, even though he wore no shoes. An eye peeked out from under his mop of hair as he leaned on his walking stick, which for some reason had a dried paw fitted on the top.

"What _crisis_ is it this time, Swanmon?" He asked, voice tired and worn down. "Has Meramon left the city for too long gathering seasonings again? Has Coelamon not come back from the cove yet? Is Angemon gone from the clinic, or has his assistant played a prank again? Because if so, you know the usual people who can go out and get them. I thought I told every last one of you that unless it was those troublesome little punks that took over that dagblasted Binary Castle way up north came down here again..."

Swanmon's eye would have twitched if she wasn't trying to hold back her grief and anger and helpless desire to move (basically every motherly instinct was making a dangerous fireball which she could expel on anyone if she wasn't careful, and it was horribly tempting to expel it on the grumpy codger). "It's Snimon." Her voice did waver, try as she might to stop it. "A rampaging beast has murdered Snimon and... some fool children are next! Those Chosen ones you told me of... I think the little ones think they can somehow fight one of _them_."

This was a small child habit, it really was. This was why she got so annoyed when they snuck out. the little ones thought they were _heroes._

For a moment, Jijimon became very still. His eye continued to stare at her, blank with surprise. Her words ran through his head for a moment before terror gripped his heart and he raced back into the house.

He came back out wearing a helmet, a bandolier with a combat knife and several grenades attached to it. He mounted his walking stick like one would a pony and used its magical properties to make it levitate. "Go get the others." He ordered Swanmon. "I'll go find the children and make sure they're safe."

Swanmon let out a mental sigh of relief and then saluted with one wing. Thank goddess he could get serious. Making a mental route in her mind, she hurried away to find Guardromon and his announcer's voice. If anyone could transmit a red alert, it was him. Shame he couldn't control that around gossip as well, he would be liked more in that case.

She prayed the old 'mon could get there in time. Those children, for all of their necessity, were so _small…_

* * *

Jijimon wasn't sure his old heart could take all this stress. He'd flown out to the Village of Beginnings to see that, of course, the children hadn't done as Swanmon had said and _stayed put_. No, that would be too easy. The only other place they could have gone was Snimon's orchard, if their Digimon partners were who he thought they were.

They weren't there either. There were signs that they had been, at the very least, but he was minutes too late. The entire meat apple orchard was done for, too. He had a feeling he knew who had done this and why. His grip tightened on his staff for a moment before he controlled himself. That damn blasted... File Island had still been recovering from the occupation from the Dark Masters' forces, why did they want to make life so much more miserable for them _now_?

He put the thought out of his mind for now. He had a group of lost children to find. If they weren't dead. He dearly hoped so. Not since he knew the Little Miss was in the group. Or so he assumed...

Jijimon continued to scour the forest paths, knowing the Digimon with the children would know where those were. He followed the tracks from orchard, noticing they seemed to be slowed by something. He wasn't sure what but he hoped it wasn't something like carrying a corpse. That would be the worst thing that could happen. Didn't humans leave corpses?

His fears were (mostly) put to rest when he finally came upon them. They were resting slightly off the path, but he could see several human children - he counted seven - and several Digimon - oddly, he counted eight. And six of those eight Digimon were extremely familiar to him. The other two, well, they niggled at his mind.

"Ho there!" He called down to them, making several heads perk up. "I'm comin' on down! Don't be scared!"

"Jijimon!" He heard one of the little Rookies around the kids call out. "What are you doing here?"

"One moment, let me land!" He called back, slowly floating down. It was easy for his walking stick to gain altitude, descending was another matter entirely. The stubborn thing loved flying.

Ivy and Rue bared their teeth for a moment, taking in the scent with careful noses. Then, they backed towards the sleeping Mirei, shifting a little. Ivy scratched one ear and scowled. Friendly faces everywhere huh? She barely recognized him: they had hardly been babies when he had been around. Still. Could be a different one.

Yuugo almost tensed, but Falcor, who had gotten distracted and come back to them instead, started to rub his leg. "He's cool," the Liollmon said with a grin. "He's helpful too!"

Artemis let out a snort. Rina slipped her hands from her pockets. He wasn't going to hurt them, at least not on purpose. Supposedly.

At that exact moment, the levitating force behind Jijimon's walking stick gave out. He barely managed to give a soft utterance of 'shit!' before dropping twenty feet to land on his face. Fergus snorted, which caused Taiga to give at least an awkward chuckle as Niko stared at the twitching old man.

"Are you okay, sir?" Sashenka asked, going to help his elder.

"Fine, lad, fine. Just let me stand up." Jijimon replied, climbing to his feet. His helmet had been knocked off, blasted thing. He swore everything he owned was trying to kill him. He patted Sasha on the head as he shuffled past him, toward the children.

"Who are-" Niko was cut off when Jijimon tapped him on the head with his staff.

"Change your tone, boy." He said gruffly. "I'm here because Swanmon told me you lumps all got in a tussle with someone who killed one of my citizens. I'm Jijimon, leader of File CITY, and I've been waiting for you lot to come make life less of a hellhole for all of us."

"That would explain your age, wouldn't it?" Artemis muttered.

Sayo shifted behind her, torn between edging closer and running away. She wasn't sure if she regretted her decision to help or not. "Was... everyone waiting?"

"I mostly got into the fight," Rina chirped. V.V. let out a weary snort.

Jijimon brought his staff down on Artemis' head and gave her a hearty 'bonk' with it. "I heard that, missy. I'm old, not hard of hearing." He glared at her, before turning to Sayo. He regarded her for a moment, mulling over his answer, before shrugging. "Pretty much, lass." He told her. Jijimon obviously wasn't in the mood to spare feelings. "Every single one of us were. At least those that decided to remain in File CITY. People left in droves the first year o' the Occupation."

"What occupation?" Niko asked, sharing a look of apprehension with Taiga.

"We'll discuss that when we're not out in the open for more of their goons to show up." Jijimon retorted. "Give me the things you all can't carry for long and take the sleeping one with you. I'll help you lot back to the CITY and we can talk there."

"The two of them are meant to go hand in hand," Artemis murmured, waving Sayo off from the small bruise. The girl looked ready to wilt with that accusation. Didn't make it any less true, honestly. She probably knew it as well as anyone here.

Rina glanced around them, then gestured for Niko to hand over the bags. Worst case scenario, they would only lose some supplies, which was preferable over losing someone's life. V.V. gave her a worried look. She was taking this too well. That wasn't a good sign. Not for her. He took her free hand for a moment. She grinned down at him. Well, whatever happened, he would fix his mistake this time.

Niko gathered up their bags for a moment. His and Taiga's were easily the heaviest out of all of them and were partly why they stopped to rest. He handed those over first, which Jijimon took without even a comment of how heavy they were. He held out his staff and the paw slotted at the top suddenly grew around five times its original size. Jijimon had it grasp the bags straps for theirs and then swiped the rest from Niko's hands.

"Alright now, ya bunch of lumps." He said. "I know how to get back to CITY very quickly. Follow me, but make sure to be quiet-like. The roads are not safe these days."

"You sure are demanding a lot of them, sir." Dolce quipped from her spot in Keren's arms.

"You sure have been a very _smart mouth_ lately, lass." He returned, glaring at her. "Almost as bad as our resident bad bunny. I don't wanna hear it. You should have brought them back to the CITY immediately, but you let them dally around and almost get killed. This has been a very bad showing on your part, especially since you wanted to lead your little group of rag tag munchkins. Now follow me, and no lip out of any of you. Got it?"

Even Fergus seemed to be surprised with just how sour the old man was being. After some meek agreements and a scoff from Artemis (that was about as cowed as he was ever going to make her), he went back to the path and began to walk down it in a careful but brisk pace, forcing them all to keep up with him.

"Geez, this guy is even more of a hardass than your Dad, Niko." Taiga whispered to his friend, once more carrying Mirei on his back in a piggy back style. Keren was walking near him and Niko, just behind them. Poor girl seemed to be wilting almost as much as Sayo was.

Falcor moved closer to Jijimon's side, sniffing and making note. He didn't recognize this shortcut at all! It would be good to remember it. At least he hoped it would be. It was so hard to remember what was important sometimes. He glanced back at his human. He had such a subdued one. They weren't all like that but his was. Well, he guessed that made sense. One of them had to want to do things. He liked sleeping better.

Yuugo slipped his hand into Sayo's. She gave him a reflexive, fake smile and focused on her feet. They were probably thinking the same thing. Would it have been better if they had arrived sooner? The answer: Probably not. They would have been less prepared. More would have died.

Still didn't sit right.

Rina continued to look around, hands back in her pockets, fiddling with the items there. _Never thought my old man's paranoia would come in handy quite like this..._ She resisted the urge to whistle. God this was so cool. She was in a whole other world that looked nothing like home. Maybe she would figure out… no, no. She needed more information first. That would probably involve not pissing off the tour guide. He seemed like the kind of guy that would make it easy for her though!

The troupe made it to the city limits within only a few minutes of walking. Jijimon never changed his pace but his legs were shorter, which meant they were able to keep stride with him easily enough, even if he pushed some of the ones who usually didn't get such a workout - basically only Keren. The poor girl looked nearly in tears from how tired she was.

The buildings of File CITY, now that all of the kids could actually look at them, looked run down and not well kept. Only the ones currently in use by any one of the residents looked like they had some manner of care given to them, but even then it looked like it hadn't seen attention from a proper caregiver in quite some time. Not even Jijimon's own house looked that well off, with missing boards and cracked frames. His door looked like it barely hung on its hinges when he opened it.

"Set that little miss on my bed." He instructed, putting their bags gently on the ground as he pointed to perhaps the nicest furnishing in his entire house - the sheets, pillows and blankets on it looked like they were washed regularly at least. "I need to tell the rest of the townsfolk I found you. Can I trust you children not to run off and make a mess of things before I get back?"

"Wouldn't get far if we did," Artemis said dryly. Sayo gently tugged at her antenna, earning a surprised (and grudgingly impressed) scowl.

"We'll stay here," Yuugo said quietly, going to help Keren sit down. Rina sat promptly down by the bed, grinning in what was probably meant to be reassuring. She failed utterly. Not that she would go anywhere anyway.

"Good. I'll only be a few minutes, all things willing." Jijimon said, already shuffling out of the house. "If this place is burnt to the ground I am spanking all of your bottoms, regardless of your age!"

"Man, he's a real sourpuss," Taiga said with some amusement, placing Mirei on the bed and covering her up. Poor girl had warmed up slightly from his own body heat, he hoped she got better. He shooed Rina off of it, scowling playfully at her. "Not for you. He said to put Mirei here, not you."

Rina pouted at him. "Hey, I fought too." She left the side of the bed, moving to sit next to V.V.

"That fight worked out real great, didn't it?" Artemis drawled, ignoring this antenna tug.

Rina grinned innocently. "Better than I figured it would." She bopped V.V. over the head as he snickered at her. "You're supposed to be on my side V.V.!"

"Like Dark Area." He leaned against her and closed his eyes. "In fact, Imma go to sleep and heal from the crap you made me do. Please don't run off."

She reached down and gently rubbed his stomach. "Not going anywhere, don't worry about it."

V.V. yawned in contentment and shut his eyes, dozing off in seconds. Taking this as his cue, Falcor happily curled up next to Yuugo and did the same. Yuugo tried not to laugh, petting him instead.

"Yeah but she's smaller than you, so she gets preferential treatment." Taiga rolled his eyes at his friend, gently tucking Mirei in. Poor girl looked a little less tense in her sleep, now that she was in a comfortable bed. In fact she rolled herself over and began to breathe much easier when she was able to smell the pillow, for whatever reason.

Rina grinned a bit. "Whatever you say, buddy." Honestly, she didn't care too much. Sleeping sitting up was really useful! And if she moved now, she would wake V.V. anyway.

Keren sat near Sayo and Yuugo, looking like she was relieved to finally be sitting down after the brisk walk. She still looked near tears, but Dolce was gently comforting her. "It's okay, sweetheart." The hamster soothed. "He's just been under a lot of stress. You personally, every single one of you, haven't done anything wrong. He'll be calmed down when he gets back, I promise."

Niko looked around, noticing all the more the way the entire house looked so... run down. Besides the bed was a barren shelf with only a few dusty books on it, a broken window that looked like it had bit of plastic taped onto the broken part, a desk with a brick in the place of a broken leg... The computer sitting on it looked well loved and taken care of, but it was also showing some signs of wear and age.

"They're really kind of living terribly if the supposed leader of this place lives in a shack like this, huh?" The blond asked softly, taking off his glasses for a moment to rub at his eyes. The dirty surroundings were driving his desire to keep things neat and clean _crazy._

Sayo watched Artemis pace across the room. "Good leaders tend to take the most from themselves," she murmured, almost to herself. Her fingers looped into her skirt and she resisted the urge to fiddle with her hat. A gentle head throb made her pause but she ignored it, absently reaching to stroke Falcor's back.

Yuugo smiled a bit at Dolce. "You're really good at this." That was a relief. Keren needed someone steady it seemed like.

"'Course she is." Fergus snorted from where he and Sashenka were sitting, at their partners' side. They had settled down near Rina, grabbing some of the pillows that had made it on their trip to this world and using them to sit down on. "She works at the Village of Beginnings. She has to deal with all of those babbling little snots that kidnapped you."

"Please, the darlings are hardly _snots_." Dolce scoffed at him.

"Name one time the Babu's little gang ever did anything to help any of us." Fergus countered. "One time."

"Well... They did help us find the other children far easier, from the words of your partner." She offered.

"Yeah, so they could get their grubby little paws on them." The pup grumped.

Artemis let out a snort. "They also tend to run the place when she ain't around and Swanmon gets busy so there's that."

"Interesting how she doesn't deny they kidnapped you," Yuugo mused and Sayo giggled.

"They liked me, I think," she murmured, remembering how friendly they had been. And slimy. But that was fine.

Yuugo snatched her hat, causing her to squeak. "Small creatures like you, Sayo. The ducks?"

Sayo blushed. "I-I wasn't trying with-"

"That's the problem." He draped her hat over Falcor's face. The lion cub slept through it all.

"Like they'd have made a difference anyway, Fergus," Artemis offered. "You're stuck with _him_."

All conversation stopped when rapid movement was heard outside. Taiga watched the mug on Jijimon's desk vibrate with a fascinated expression, his eyebrow rising to his hairline. "What, do we gotta deal with a powerwalking T-rex, now?" He muttered.

If only it were that simple. Instead, Jijimon's door was bashed open by a green, furless ape-like critter that came up to Taiga and Niko's waists. He wore a leather and fur tunic and shorts, sported a rather large club that looked like it was fashioned from a small log with a few stakes drive into it to act as flanges on a mace. Gleaming tusks jutted from his lower jaws, framing his mouth, pointing to the sky. Orange eyes looked at them all from under the red tresses of his Mohawk.

Niko, obviously, was alarmed by this newcomer, but not as much as Keren was when the little ape-thing opened its mouth to show off a good row of large teeth. "FALCOR!" He roared into the house, making all the poor human kids jump at the volume of his voice. "WAKE UP, YA BUM! I BEEN LOOKIN' FOR YA ALL OVER DA PLACE!"

Yuugo tensed as his partner woke, yawning widely. Blue eyes barely peeked open at the sound before Falcor rose up and tackled the newcomer out of the doorway with all of the force a large lion cub could possess. He rolled them both out of the home and into the dirt road, making to pin him to the ground.

"You're being louder than usual, buddy!" Falcor told him once he had woken up a little more.

V,V, groaned as he woke up. Rina didn't stir at all, somehow. "Did he just..."

"Apparently," Artemis replied with a grimace. "I can soap him if you want."

"I don't believe that will be necessary, Artemis..." Sashenka shook his head. "He'll leave once he's satisfied, or when he knows he's not wanted. He always does."

Artemis scoffed. "Darn, he sounds like he needs a scrub."

From the bed came a small groan. Mirei stirred, thrashing a little as she made to wake. Her partners jumped to the bed to nuzzle her face and calm her down. "Careful now, give her room to breathe," Taiga chided the pups as they mobbed their person. He wasn't sure why he was being concerned with Mirei so much, but it was just a feeling he had. He didn't know what the feeling was, but he decided to run with it for now. It didn't seem to be doing any harm, anyway. The girl probably needed a friend, even if she brought them all to this strange world.

The girl let out a small cough. "I-I'm fine..."

"That's a lie if I've ever heard one," Ivy muttered, nuzzling her cheek again. "Cripes, you're hot."

Mirei felt her forehead hazily. "... I think that you're just used to me being cold, Ivy."

Ivy rolled her eyes. "I doubt it. You... don't do that too much anymore. We're tougher now, okay?"

Mirei reached out and scratched a floppy ear as she sat up. "No promises..." Rue didn't seem to care, plopping in her lap. Mirei looked up at Taiga, puzzled by his closeness. "What.. what happened after I..."

"You fainted after he left." Taiga reported. He looked a lot more awkward now that she saw his hovering. "I... Was just making sure you're okay, and stay that way. You kind of worried us all."

Mirei stared blankly up at him through the lenses of her glasses. "Thank... thank you very much," she murmured. She tried to smile and failed. "But... may I ask why you're concerned? I dragged you into this, after all." Ivy snorted and nuzzled against her.

 _Ooooh my,_ there were many answers to that. 'Because you're tiny' probably wouldn't go well. Clearly she was used to taking care of herself. 'Because you're kind of cute' probably wouldn't either. 'Well you look kind of familiar so I wanted to find out why' would not only not go over well also, it was acknowledging something he wasn't sure he wanted to acknowledge right now. Eventually, he shrugged. "It just seemed the right thing to do." He said. "We didn't exactly want to leave you behind. You may have brought us all in this, but you didn't do it out of malice. Plus without you, we'll be flying completely blind, so... Good Samaritan type things as well as, you know. Needing all of us."

"You're rambling, bro." Niko commented.

Mirei put a hand over her mouth to stop any potential giggles from coming out. That was... that was almost sweet of him, wasn't it? Also a little familiar somehow. "Well," she murmured. "thank you very much." She made herself sit up and grimaced. Sweat had begun forming on her forehead.

"Mirei, you're hot, I told you." Ivy sounded smug about this. Mirei tapped her and shut her eyes, breathing slowly in and out. She was simply too used to being cold, that was all.

Yuugo squeezed Sayo's shoulder and went to see what was going on.

Meanwhile, the two Digimon were still fighting, I mean, talking. "'Cuz ya missed trainin' again, ya bum!" The ape yowled, smacking Falcor upside the head with his club, dizzying the cub. He used that advantage to roll them over, pinning Falcor's head to the grown with the flat top of the head of his weapon. "That old lion put us in charge of protectin' this place when we Digivolve! How we gon' do that when ya always skimp out!? So I decided to bring it to you today and tan yer hide! Ya ain't escapin' this time, cat!"

Falcor let out a whine. "I had a good reason!" Silly Tyrone, always jumping to conclusions. "I have a human now, I can't just leave him to wander here alone! Can't watch him and train at the same time. That's too much work! There won't be any time for naps if I do that!"

Tyrone paused for a moment, before letting out a snarl and grinding Falcor's face harder into the road. "If that's the case, then ya need to train harder, ya bum!" He growled. "If'n ya got a human like that old lion said you would, then you got his life to think about! If ya keep skimpin' out on yer trainin', he'll end up dead because you didn't toughen up enough to keep 'em safe! Ya can stand to take far less naps!"

Yuugo reached the doorway and frowned. His first idea was to go and attempt to get the weird goblin off. That idea was promptly axed when Falcor lifted his hind legs and kicked Tyrone hard in the chest. "Yeah, I know!" he said, actually looking a little huffy as he rolled to his feet. "But the training won't prepare me any! It'll make me all stiff, predictable! And not sleeping will make me less healthy than doing it! It's not fun anyway, listening to you to grump at each other about everything ever!"

Tyrone rolled back to his feet from where he landed. He roared as he charged right back where Falcor was standing up and brought his club down, barely missing the cub as he hopped out of the way. "Training makes you stronger! It toughens ya up, sharpens yer senses, makes ya smart!" The goblin-ape thing reprimanded. "If it doesn't make you better, then you're not doin' it right! All ya ever do is sleep! Ya never do anythin' but sleep! That ain't healthy either!"

"It also gets you to talk too much," Falcor muttered, claws beginning to dig into the ground. "If I really did nothing but sleep, I wouldn't have any luck, would I?" He whirled and smacked at Tyrone's weapon. "Just 'cause I don't train where you don't see me doesn't mean I don't train, you naggy nag!"

"I NAG BECAUSE I CARE, YA BUM!" Tyrone shouted in his face, abandoning his club for the moment to punch Falcor right in the face. Well, he would have, if the paw on Jijimon's staff didn't appear right in front of his fist and grab it. He balked for a moment before he was tossed right into the air. The same paw grabbed Falcor's golden collar and threw him as well. The old man leaped into the air and spiked them both into the ground, leaving the two groaning.

"That is quite enough!" The old hairy man rebuked, landing on his feet without even a grunt. "You are disturbing the peace, both of you!"

Falcor let out a whine of pain. "Jijimon, he _started_ it!" Not that him fighting back was much better, but still!

Yuugo was torn between laughter and concern. Wasn't this also disturbing the peace? Falcor didn't look so great either. ... he had to get the one without any sense of tension, didn't he?

Mirei perked up suddenly at the sound of that voice. That was... She jumped out of the bed and bolted towards the door. At the sight of the old Digimon, her eyes widened. "U-Uncle...?"

That was about Jijimon's only warning before she tackled him for a hug.

"I don't care who started it, I'll finish-" Jijimon's tirade was cut short when he was tackled by the child rocket. Give the old man some credit, he managed to catch himself and not fall to the floor while the girl hugged him with all her might. "Oh!" He looked down at the girl in his arms, watching her shoulders tremble as she buried herself in his gray mane. He tightened his arms around her, giving her back the hug she had so desperately seemed to need. "Did these lay-abouts wake you, little miss?"

Mirei nodded a little, clutching to him like a lifeline. "I... I couldn't sleep forever, could I? Sorry, sorry I took so long..." She should have come sooner, she hadn't wanted to risk it, but... she could feel it in the air. She had waited much, much too long.

Falcor took this opportunity to stumble to Yuugo, shaking his head to clear the dizziness. "Muuuhhh."

"Well, that's different," Artemis muttered as she moved to check what was happening. Ivy and Rue popped past her, running after their partner. "Never knew grumpy soul to be that careful."

Jijimon chuckled softly, patting her back gently. "No, no... Don't worry about it, child. You actually came back much earlier than I expected. It's only been two years. I... We all expected you to be gone much, much longer than that."


	8. Tragic Backstory Not Required

Mirei froze in Jijimon's grasp, eyes growing wide. Could it really...? Two years? That short of a time? Her head spun a little She moved one hand to touch her chest, but dismissed it. "That short of a time and it's like this? I..." She rubbed her eyes, feeling cold water threatening to burst around her eyes and freeze. "W-We... we tried to carry this out as soon as possible..." She struggled to maintain her composure. "Please tell me, us," It took a moment to correct for that, because now there certainly was an us. "What's happening." Answers, yes, that would help. Answers would keep her grounded through this.

Jijimon sighed, scratching where his chin was assumed to be. "That... Could take a while. Come, let us get back into the house, where we can all sit and discuss this. Tyrone," He turned to the goblin who had been fighting Falcor not a minute before. "If you wish to sit in, you may do so. But if you should be doing something else…"

"All my chores are done for the day." He replied, giving Falcor a sour look. "Unlike a certain _bum's._ "

Falcor didn't even bother to look offended. He just flicked his tail and went to with a yawn. Yuugo offered him a worried head scratch. Falcor nosed his fingers affectionately, leading them back in.

Mirei, reluctant to leave a hug from a person who she hadn't seen for so long, moved to set herself down on the ground. She had no idea what was coming, but it all filled her with a low sense of dread. She imagined that moment, magnified, the slashing of flesh and the bullet so-

She squeezed her eyes shut and shook the images away. It wasn't her fault. It wasn't. _They_ had decided to go after them. _They_ had decided to do all of this. It wasn't her fault that _they_ were dead…

Jijimon held her hand gently when she finally let go, unwilling as well to let the girl go. He led them both in, Tyrone and her pups following after her. He almost wanted to chuckle at the looks on their faces. While Ivy was more overt about it, even Rue looked a little put out that Mirei wasn't paying attention to them and instead to him. He looked up at the kids, who all stared back at him, their faces waiting.

Jijimon said nothing while he walked Mirei over to his bed and let her sit first. Mirei blinked as her pups needily plopped into her lap, nuzzling and nipping at her fingers. She flushed a little. She hadn't meant to ignore them like that. She stroked their fur, letting them curl up where they felt they -where they _did_ \- belong. He joined her after, before giving all the children a look. Then he gestured at the peacefully snoring Rina. How she could sleep through such a ruckus was almost disturbing in its own way."Wake her up, then sit down, the lot of you. It's about time I told you why you were first chosen and what our current situation is."

Rina continued to doze without noticing his stare, arms around her V.V. Sayo watched her in puzzlement, wondering just how they would wake her up. Considering her jumping around, no wonder she was still sleeping. Maybe it was best to let her rest for the time being and just explain it all later. Artemis raised an eyebrow and shot a set of bubbles at Rina's face. The girl woke with a sputter and a pout.

"Good. Now, all of you, sit down." Jijimon stated. Niko and Taiga, who had remained standing, found places to sit down. Fergus plopped himself in Taiga's lap like Mirei's pups had done with her. Sashenka instead sat down primly next to his partner, though his tail wagged a little when Niko hesitantly began to scratch him behind an ear.

Jijimon sighed, looking between all of their waiting faces -and Rina sure looked like she was about to sleep again- before he began to speak.

"I suppose I should start from the beginning. Several years ago, our world was being damaged by spatial distortions." He finally spoke. "We didn't know where they came from at first, but they were tearing this world apart at the seams. They made time in some areas so slow a day barely passed, while in others it would be so fast that years go by in the blink of an eye. We didn't know why this happened. All we knew was that suddenly, things were happening and our world was subjected to such forces that for so long, all there was to life was abject _misery_." He paused for a moment. "All we knew was the cause was an outside force. Something not native to this world. Something had come through the Wall of Fire - the natural defense of this world - and was molding our world like its plaything to try and cause as much destruction as possible. It only wasn't until three years ago that we ever found out what the cause was."

Something in the air grew thick and weighted. Even talking about them made Jijimon hunch over a little in his seat.

"It was a Digimon. A Digimon both not of our world and yet originating from it at the same time." He continued. "A creature made up of a fusion of the being who came from beyond the Wall of Fire and the remains of Digimon who died or refused evolution and had given in to despair. A Digimon we came to know as Apocalymon."

"Oh that's a cheery as hell name." Niko muttered under his breath. Rina's eyes were wide open now, intent on the old Digimon. She didn't speak, hand going into her pocket. The other stroked V.V.'s tummy, letting him sleep.

Sayo shifted, rubbing her temples. There was a story like this once... a story, in her head. Except... she didn't remember how it ended. "Those Digimon... committed suicide... to become another Digimon? And they could distort time and space... like the weather too?"

Mirei looked down and away, eyes suddenly very intent on her Plotmon. Ivy licked at the bite she had left on her partner's hands, bringing a faint smile to the girl's face.

"We don't know what it was when it first came. What I am telling you now is what it told all of us when we poked where it didn't want us to." Jijimon shivered for a moment. "But yes. It is a being of terrible power. It was able to affect both this world and your world, whereas it could warp time in ours it could cause abnormal weather in yours, at the least. We saw the damage it was doing in both our worlds and thus we started working on ways to destroy this being, who had communicated its desire to destroy us all." He paused for a moment. "We had many plans, but only two bore fruit. Our first was to create the Digivices, the tools you all wield." He pointed to the odd, tamagotchi-looking devices the children all had clipped somewhere on their person. Niko looked down at his with a frown, gently running his fingers on the silvery blue rectangular device. It was still a little warm there.

"After making them and our other items of power, we had to find the ones who would wield them. As we were doing this, we put our next plan into action." Another pause, then his words slowed. "With great personal sacrifice, we managed to get into the space between worlds that Apocalymon had created with its very presence and send it back through the Wall of Fire from whence it came, using one of the items of power to seal it away. However..." He sighed. "It had the last laugh."

Mirei visibly started to shake. The words formed at her lips, ready to be spoken, but opening her mouth revealed only frantic puffs of air. The air around her started to cool, the salt water freezing at her eyelashes. She opened her mouth to speak once again. She knew this part, knew it better than her uncle even. She had seen it after all, but-

Rina set V.V. to the side and moved over, pulling Mirei off of the bed and into a hug. The temperature returned to normal immediately. The little girl blinked puzzled, pain-filled eyes at her. Rina just shook her head, a tiny smile on her face.

"Be careful, yeah?" she said in a low but still cheerful voice. "Still hurts, right?"

"... What happened?" Niko asked, since he seemed to be the only one that wanted to say anything. Taiga had gone over to gently pat Mirei on her shoulder, even as he stared at Jijimon with this strange, unblinking look.

"Before we sealed it away for good, it created a number of Digieggs - the things all Digimon are born from - and sent them into the Digital World." Jijimon answered. He bowed his head for a moment. "We had assumed it would take a long time for its 'children,' for lack of a better word, to become dangerous. We knew something had to be done about them, they'd become dangerous with time, yes. Our Digivices and items of power weren't created without a purpose now, but we assumed we had all the time in the world to find Digimon volunteers and children to tie them all too." He took a breath. "We were wrong. They had managed to hatch, to evolve at a fast pace, to gain legions of followers somehow and... Long story short, we had to eventually send our Mirei away into your world at great personal cost. We lost her father, her mother, all of her friends... These beasts, who called themselves the 'Dark Masters' took almost everyone we loved and cared about before we were able to put them down." He patted Mirei's hand gently. "Mirei is the only survivor of her clan that we know of, besides her uncles who went ahead into your world to set up a place for all of them to live."

Mirei rubbed at her face, wiping away the tears. She was too exhausted for them to become ice, but still. Crying like this... even with Jijimon around, even with good reason, it still didn't feel right. Her father rarely cried. She needed his strength, especially now. If she lost her light... She felt Rina's fingers gently touch her hair, questioning. She didn't resist the hand carding through, merely shut her eyes to everything else, leaning towards Taiga without realizing it.

"He's alive," she finally managed to say. All of the room looking at her made her feel suddenly, violently ill, but she kept her voice steady as she spoke. "He's not the same, but Papa and a couple others were able to make it through."

Jijimon stared at her a moment. It was a long moment, and they could tell by his only visible eye fixating on her. Then he took her hand in his and gently squeezed it. "I'm sorry, little miss. It must have been tough, regardless, and you have all my apologies."

Taiga moved to gently pat her back instead, wrapping her in a gentle hug which he hoped was comforting. That strange look never left his eyes. It only seemed to intensify even.

Mirei managed a little smile after a second or so. "I'm strong," she finally said, but the words lacked the conviction they would have in other circumstances.

Rina looked thoughtfully at the small girl she was holding, before she let her go to Taiga. Grief that hadn't processed, pain that was without measure... and so small at that. Hah. Such a peaceful, _painful_ world. The words were bitter now. She lifted her head, red eyes fixed on Jijimon without wavering. "Is there anything left at the places those people once lived?" Her voice gave nothing either. She felt Nikolai and Taiga's eyes on her, looking at her with a familiar emotion, from the first days they met. Like back then, she ignored it. "Something that the current enemy could use. You all gave everything and more to stop that threat from taking over, right? But from how this looks, there was another one. And they could have found something useful to them?"

Jijimon chuckled mirthlessly. "Oh, if _only_. They had access to our technology for a long time before we finally managed to destroy them, so there's no clue what they might have left behind. But now? Heh... Now, our threat is homegrown. It may not be the original reason why you were called here, but there is a force out there, one who seeks to do things in the normal measure of conquerors. Not to destroy everything, but to 'unify' it, the whole world, under one banner and ideology. And they might have access to old technology, too! Who knows. Either way." He cycled looking between everyone's faces for a moment, before landing back on Rina. "What you fought was a beast of the Bagra Empire, nothing more, nothing less."

"Wasn't." Mirei's voice was muffled by the hug she was trapped in but she didn't seem inclined to leave so Taiga didn't stop her.

"That was Regulumon," Rue reported, placing a paw over Ivy's mouth before she could say something completely stupid. "For him to have been reduced to such a state…"

Rina turned the words over. So, they would have to beat them anyway in order to get some answers. Sounded about right. "Unify... huh?" She let out a quiet snort. "People always say that sort of thing." Her normally loud voice got even quieter, almost talking to herself. "So... an Emperor huh? Who should we be pointed at first?" She grinned a little at the last words, but it wasn't much of a happy expression. In fact, it was almost tired.

Jijimon looked at Mirei sadly. "He is Mad Leomon now, little miss. No matter what you saw, no matter what you knew, he has become naught but a raging monster on the leash of the empire now. He destroys now what he once wanted to protect." He told her, not unkindly. He looked to the others. "The Dark Master, Piemon, did something to him. We don't know what, his wife took him with her before we could find out what was done to him. But now... Now he has killed and feasted upon too many of my townsmen, little miss. Even if a part of his old self still survived, that only makes it worse. I'm sorry, but I cannot forgive him for his actions."

Mirei shook her head a little. She didn't know why she disagreed with that as much as she did. He had tried to kill her teammates so she didn't just expect him to be forgiven. He would have killed her if he hadn't recognized her. Even so, she didn't think it was enough to just denounce him and dispatch him. Hadn't... hadn't they done that enough?

_Mama and so many of Papa's friends are still dead… isn't this enough?_

"So, wait." Fergus began, looking at the old man questioningly. "You mean you _knew_ the guy who killed Snimon?"

"And so many others, yes." Jijimon nodded slightly. "I would have been proud to call him my friend what only seems yesterday, too."

"Everything is connected." Sayo put a hand to her head and leaned against Yuugo. Artemis gave her a wary look, but Sayo continued, voice hard to hear. "If he is like that, they must have made him that way, and others as well... wouldn't it help to keep him alive to figure out what caused this? To prevent it?"

"The only way to prevent anything anymore is destroying them before they can destroy any more of us." Jijimon obviously didn't want to sound so negative, but it was obvious the old man carried a great weight upon his shoulders. He patted Mirei on the head for a moment, trying to comfort the upset girl, before he turned to address Rina. "As for your question... The current 'governors' currently reside up in Binary Castle. They will eventually be our targets. For right now, we have to get everyone who has left File CITY out of hopelessness to come back. I think you children being here will help bring everyone's morale up once again."

Mirei didn't move away, despite the childish desire to do so. She still didn't agree with him, no matter how right he may have been. But that was likely because she was a child, and the pain all seemed like just enough not to buckle down against.

Rina nodded. "Storming the walls would be fun but tough right now," she said. Though honestly, ramming a castle door always sounded like a good time for all. The heroes had a lot less trouble when they didn't try to go in with as little ability as possible. All the shonen tropes in the world wouldn't help. "Where do we start then?"

"As I said. First, we need to rebuild the town, or at least get our old citizens who left back." Jijimon stated. "I'll work that out with the others. As for you... You kids look like you have been having a bad time so far. Eat, rest. recover. When we need you, we'll call for you."

"But Jijimon, that'll make them a bunch'a bums like Falcor is! And he don't need no more encouragement!" Tyrone protested. Falcor whined in mock-irritation at the insult.

"Exactly why I'll assign them to _you_ to make sure they all get some training in." Jijimon explained to him by way of supplication. The goblin balked for a moment.

 _"Me?"_ He squeaked.

 _"Him?"_ Just about every Digimon protested. V.V. snored. Ivy and Rue just stared at each other.

"Yes." Jijimon nodded. "He is one of the old lion's two disciples, just as Falcor is. I know some of you haven't worked as hard either him or Tyrone to be as strong as you can be, thinking your natural strengths would be enough. I don't want you or your children to pay for those mistaken thoughts, however. Tyrone, and Falcor if he'll stop trying to nap all the time, will make sure all of you are up to snuff.

"Sir, if I may," Shashenka began. "But, well…"

"You're being kind of unfair!" Fergus protested. "I've had a job! I couldn't exactly balance training as hard as those two with it!"

"Same." Dolce spoke up. "I was helping Swanmon take care of the little one in the Village of Beginnings. They eat up an extraordinary amount of time…"

"Indeed. And now your job is to take care of your partners." Jijimon stated. "Your protests don't make sense. Don't you want to make sure you are strong enough, fast enough and smart enough to take care of the children you are now tasked with protecting?"

V.V. just gave a heavy, coughing exhale in his sleep. Rina scratched him and shrugged. It was fine with her.

Artemis scowled. "There's also that whole 'he breaks our eardrums' issue to consider," she said dryly.

Sayo thought it over as she watched the goblin wilt a little; something either no one else noticed or ignored. It seemed to her, well, Artemis had just confirmed it really, that they just plain ol' didn't _like_ the guy. She could admit, he made her ears ring, but he was a better fighter than any of them right now according to their guide, except maybe that sleeping dragon. And depending on a trump card for everything was dangerous. She rubbed her wrists.

"We should work with him," Sayo finally said. She avoided looking at Artemis as she spoke, feeling red eyes burn into the side of her head. "He c-clearly knows what he's talking about, and considering we all couldn't do anything back there... we need all the help we can get. Besides." She smiled a little. "I-I have a high pain tolerance, but that doesn't mean anything if I get hit by one of those attacks, right? If we can't dodge or you can't fire it back, we're dead. And judging by the looks on your faces back there, I don't think any of you want to lose anyone else, right?"

The Digimon, except V.V., Rue and Ivy all had the right mind to look guilty, at least by a little bit. There was some mumbles of assent to this. Tyrone, meanwhile, looked at Sayo with a mix of both surprise and gratitude. He looked like he was about to say something when Jijimon got off of his bed and waddled over to her.

"Good." Jijimon patted her on the head. "Good. That would have taken a day normally to get them to agree, and they would do so grudgingly from me and then shirk it later. You will do well."

Sayo blushed at the compliment and hid her face in Yuugo's shoulder. Yuugo laughed, planting her hat back over her head.

"Do well with what?" Niko asked, raising an eyebrow at the old man.

" _She_ will see with time." Jijimon cleared his throat, walking to stand in the middle of the room. "Well then. Falcor. Tyrone. I will leave their training to you. Do your master and me proud."

"'Ey, you ain't got no need to worry about me teachin' 'em." Tyrone scoffed, glancing over at the little lion. "It's _this_ bum who'll cut corners."

Falcor yawned. "Kay..." His eyes drooped. "Ty, you probably need to do the actual combat stuff for now. You're more bipedal than me and you hit harder... I can focus on gettin' their bodies up. Then V.V. can work on the humans separately." He was a lazy cat, and he knew it, but if he had to do things, he would. And it'd be tough to not protect his squishy, er, human, if he didn't do things. It just got _boring_ when Tyrone described it. He had to work on his story telling.

"I can do what now?" V.V. reluctantly sat up at the sound of his name, and stared at Rina's mile wide smile. "Oh, am I goin' to beat up children? That's not fun... but whatever." He rubbed his head. "Lemme just get some energy back, I'm still kinda tired." He bit his tongue before he could continue on with that sentence.

"Yeah, yeah. You jus' wanna have less of a work load, ya lazy bum." Tyrone glared at Falcor. After a moment he shrugged. "But if that's how it's gonna be, fine. I'm gonna get all of ya limp noodles to be tough, manly women."

"What." Niko stared at him.

"Hey, the women of the CITY are damn scary." The goblin explained. "Lotta the time more manly than most of the men. Even if they didn't leave, most of the men're still cowards waiting in their homes for the end of all things. At least the women'll go out and make sure the town and its people're safe. They gotta be scary to do that. So. Tough, manly women."

"Well. At least he has a reason behind his weird catchphrase thing?" Taiga tried to joke, but to Niko's concern it seemed kind of forced. At least to him, at any rate.

Falcor shrugged his front shoulders. "However you want to put it... there's no point in both of us doin' the same thing, right? I can do my chores while you're with them and you can do yours when I'm helping them. Good way to do things, right?"

Yuugo flicked his partner's nose and looked them all over. "We should probably figure out... who is better suited to harder training than others. For the most part, we're not suited to fighting, right?"

"I still don't see why this is a Goddess screwed big deal," Ivy muttered.

Rue bopped her head. "Because teams don't let one person do all of the work."

Rina looked over at Taiga. "You all right?" V.V. elbowed her knee. She had to bring attention to him, didn't she?

"Um." Taiga blinked, glancing around at all of the faces that were now on him, including the big purple eyes of the tiny child close to him. _Good going Rina, thanks for putting me on the spot, I really needed this._ He sighed and shrugged, shaking his head in a somewhat dramatic fashion. "Think I'm still having trouble processing, is all." He said. "I'm on an emotional roller coaster. Think I might become weepy next, so I'd appreciate it if you would hug me to your bosom and let me cry my river of tears."

Rina raised an eyebrow, smirking. "I'm cool with that, but what if it offends Niko's delicate sensibilities?" She didn't have that much of a chest yet, anyhow.

V.V. groaned. "Rina, I'm trying to plot death over here…" She tweaked his nose.

Yuugo tilted his head. "And you called Sayo my girlfriend... right."

Mirei tilted her head, looking at them both. Maybe this was just another one of those social games she didn't understand. Hugs helped emotions... to a point, which would explain a lot about her and her cats. She reached out and patted Taiga's hand. They didn't know each other well enough for her hugs to work out, she figured, but it may give incentive?

"He can get over himself, you're helping a friend in need." Taiga grinned right back at her, before looking down at Mirei's hand. He gave her a far more gentle smile and patted her hand back.

"Hey man, screw you." Niko's scowling made Taiga smirk at him.

"Love you too, man." He snickered.

"Y-you mean... Sayo's not your girlfriend?" Keren's soft voice stopped conversation for a moment as everyone looked at her now. She stared right back owlishly, a flush starting to come to her cheek. Then Taiga began to laugh again. Niko snorted and shook his head.

"See, Yuugo? Even she thought so!" Taiga cackled.

Yuugo scratched his head, smiling sheepishly. "I suppose I'm not surprised by that. But, well, not really. Not right now anyway. It's complicated." He glanced at Sayo for confirmation, then smiled a little. She had fallen asleep on him. _Looks like that one order took it out of her._ He slipped her hat over her eyes before continuing. "Age aside, it's not a good time." He smiled innocently at Keren. "Do you want a hug too?"

"N-not right now..." The girl blushed and hid her face behind Dolce. The hamster was trying not to laugh at all of this, though her amusement could be easily seen on her face.

Yuugo smiled and shrugged. "If you say so. I don't think your partner will stop us if we try."

"I won't." Dolce affirmed. "I would probably join in, too."

Rina snorted and stood up. Well, he had asked. She would, of course, oblige. She strode over and hugged Taiga.

"Hey!" Taiga began to vocally protest, though he really didn't pull away at all. "Whoa now, Rina! Come on! I said when I'm ready to cry rivers of tears! Jeez, bad timing, man." Niko was rolling his eyes at all of them now.

Rina grinned and patted his head. "Well, you aren't stoppin' me! And it's better to be close to catch ya right?" At least that was how she saw it.

"Well, fine. If that's the game you want to play." Taiga pouted before wrapping his arms around Rina and squeezing her. He didn't mind his friend's hugs. She was a very huggy person, a lot more than most people he knew. Even more than Mrs. Daimon, and she'd hug everyone if she could get away with never letting them go.

Mirei managed a faint smile of her own. She still had no idea of what was going on. This probably had to do with things she hadn't taken any interest in when she had gone to Earth. Something to do with adults and parenting probably. Ew.

Jijimon looked like he wanted to roll with laughter. It had been so long since he'd seen innocence like this.

It was a shame this peace and innocence was shattered by the sound of an explosion from the other side of town. Everyone paused and then stumbled when the shockwaves hit Jijimon's hut.

"Oh no..." Jijimon muttered, racing out of the house. "Stay in here!" He barked after pausing in the doorway. "Don't let anyone in unless they say they know me!"

Rina went still, then gently extracted herself from Taiga. She liked the hug, but they needed to be ready. "V.V.?" The dragon got to his feet with a nod, and moved to stand to the side of the doorway.

Sayo made a noise and opened her eyes. "What is it?"

"Attack, I think." Yuugo helped her stand. "Get ready." Falcor stretched, pawing up with a yawn.

Artemis examined the room, then moved to a corner, gesturing for Fergus. They shouldn't all attack from the same direction if they had to, after all.

Fergus nodded in return at the silent order, going to hide under another something to the side. Sashenka joined V.V. at the door, patting his boxing gloves anxiously. Dolce had to leave Keren, patting her face gently, to fly up into the rafters and wait. Tyrone hid in another corner of the room, looking eager to prove himself in a true fight.

The children all hid themselves, awaiting the chance to bolt from the building and find a better place to hide of need be.

After a minute of tense waiting, the door was kicked in. "Alright, old man! Come with us now or-"

The Digimon all pounced.


	9. A Non-Plan of Action

A group of sixty Commandramon closed in on Jijimon's hut. They were rather large, nearly child sized. They looked a lot like a dinosaur with camouflage patterned scales, wearing modern combat armor and wielding guns ranging from machine guns, SMGs, shotguns and sniper rifles.

Their lintel said the leader of this 'File CITY' lived here, so capturing him was of the highest priority. After all, with the leader gone, it would be all too easy for the Empire to place an authority figure for the populace to follow. File Island would finally be a Bagra Empire controlled territory, as many felt it should be.

The squad leader held up his hand and silently signaled for his men to take up positions, which they did - taking cover behind trash, broken pieces of building and alleyways. He crept up to the door with his point men, and signaled the one with a shotgun to move in. The shotgun toting Commandramon nodded before swiveling around and kicking open the door, roaring out, "Alright, old man! Come with us now or-"

A blue colored rocket struck him right in the face and sent him flying, slamming them both into the building opposite. Before the squad leader could issue an order, a club smashed through the wall behind him and crushed him into the ground. Another blue rocket sent the other point man flying into the sky from a rocketing uppercut. Then other blurs raced from the house and into the ranks of the Commandramon and began to tear them apart.

For elite combat units, the Commandramon were sure poorly trained.

V.V. bounced back from his well thrown headbutt, catching himself on the remaining piece of wall. He didn't bother to cheer himself on, merely pulled his arm back and threw a punch. The satisfying screech of pain was almost enough to improve his mood. Almost. He gave another headbutt and knocked someone aside.

Falcor streaked past and bit heartily into an arm, causing the Commandramon to drop his gun and shriek. Not very dignified in his opinion, and he was lazy! He shook them and threw them into the one Tyrone had whacked, grinning a little.

Artemis let out an irritated sigh. Peasants. _Honestly_. She raised her paws and her ears swiveled, smothering two of the fools in bubbles and causing them to start to choke. She stayed close to the doorway, ducked by the stairs to stop any idiots from thinking they could barge right in and get the kids.

Tyrone gave a loud cackle as he dove into an alley way full of the poor Commandramons, the sounds of their pain and fear coming within as well as the meaty sounds of his club striking them. Several came flying out the way he came in, curling up on the ground or writhing.

Sashenka took on a few by himself as well, weaving around and punching them in the face as they came in and tried to gun him down. His rapid punches left them dazed and allowed him to trip them all up, allowing him to finish them off by smashing their faces into the dirt.

Fergus howled long and loud, causing his opponents to miss him completely as they held their ears in pain. It allowed Dolce to come in and blow a poisonous, purple fog over them which they were not prepared to deal with in any way. This led to them falling to the floor, their skin discolored and them coughing.

Ivy and Rue, curled under the stairs, suddenly leaped on top of two, crashing their whole weight on top of one at at a time.. They yipped and yowled, dropping from sight again as Artemis threw the barely conscious bodies aside with water. "You know," the rabbit began in a perfectly conversational tone of voice. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you all weren't happy to see us."

"We're not exactly good conversation buddies," V.V. muttered, spinning and throwing two aside.

Falcor leaped and pinned enemies to the ground for Tyrone to smash, yawning despite himself. These guys were fun to hit! He wanted to hit them more! But rude awakenings were nice to no one. And the terrain was working in their favor.

Tyrone leaped and crashed down his club on both the struggling Commandramon's heads, smashing their helmets and their noses. The two ceased all movement after that. "Ya finally good for somethin', ya bum." The goblin harrumphed at Falcor, without much if any venom. He bounded away again as new targets present themselves, sending another three Commandramon flying into the air as they backed away from the combined forces of Sashenka and Fergus.

"Hey, those were ours!" The smaller of the pups protested.

"Just assisting." Tyrone rebuttled, before leaping off to crush a couple more.

"More like _KS_ ing, you green skinned prick!" Fergus barked, racing after him. Sasha sighed, shaking his head before chasing after the two.

"Boys, there's enough for everyone." Dolce called down, even as she choked out another group of Commandramon herself. It would be sad how much the Digimon were completely destroying these poor creatures if they weren't hostile forces bent on controlling as much of the world as they possibly could.

Falcor rolled his eyes a little. "You're just jealous of me!" He leaped to slam a few more into the ground. "There are way too many of these guys, to be honest."

Ivy and Rue howled together from where they stood on the porch, causing any approaching soldiers to cringe and retreat, buried by water and under darkness by Artemis in seconds.

* * *

Rina watched from by a window, eyes intent on the movements outside. She didn't make a sound, barely even moved. For the moment, so long as they kept to the alleys, to playing dirty, they'd probably be all right, but still. Her fingers twitched. It was too risky to go running in there... or to risk trying to evolve V.V. again, fun as that sounded right about now.

Sayo shivered at the noises, wanting to watch but not wanting to be seen. This was violence. Fighting and anger and suffering. She wished it had an off switch. She glanced back at Taiga, making a small gesture. Mirei was very close to him, and she looked very prepared to do something. They couldn't do that. They couldn't be seen. Plus she was tired. It was too much of a risk.

Taiga got Sayo's look and somehow knew what she wanted him to do. He wrapped his arms around the smaller girl, both to keep Mirei calm and from going out to join the fight. Mirei stiffened, then looked up at Taiga. She settled back against him, not really sure what else to do. Taiga gently pat Mirei on the head, smiling comfortingly down at her.

Mirei frowned still. His affection didn't make sense still. It was appreciated, but it didn't make sense. She leaned to look at him, as if trying to dissect him with her expression. She wanted to understand but seemed unable to do so.

Taiga continued to smile down at Mirei, his smile taking a bit of a more teasing turn. "Something on my face? Taking a picture lasts longer, so you know."

Mirei shook her head and looked down. She didn't understand him. Maybe she never would. "Odd phrase," she finally said. She had heard it, the few times she had tried living closer in the city. It was confusing.

"Odd, but true." Taiga laughed softly, before tugging her along with him. "Come on now. Let's go do the thing where we follow everyone like good little ducks." He lead them over to Sayo, Keren and Yuugo, waiting for their plan of action.

Mirei nodded, still puzzled. But when his hand fell over hers, she didn't let go. She couldn't have because she didn't want to.

Yuugo reached over and wrapped an arm around Keren's shoulders. Sayo looked over to smile at the other girl, hiding her fear as best as she could.

"We'll be okay," she whispered. "They're gonna protect us. It's okay."

Keren buried her face into Yuugo's offered shoulder, her whimpering lessening. "Want this to stop..." She murmured against him in answer to Sayo. "Why do we have to do this...?" Why did they have to fight? Couldn't they talk things over? Why did the world have to hurt so much? She thought she'd gotten away from her living hell of a life, sequestered in quiet apartment with the jeers of her parents over not being good enough. Now she was thrown into an entirely different hell, where monsters fought and killed and hurt each other over such stupid trivialities (as far as she knew). If only she weren't so meek, she'd go march up to this Emperor and give him a piece of her mind for allowing this suffering to happen.

 _That_ would go over well.

Yuugo and Sayo looked at each other. Yuugo patted Keren's head, gently stroking her hair. He waited for her to refuse this. Sayo didn't, neither did Yuuko, but Yuugo knew he was also a bit over affectionate in general.

Sayo turned over her question. It was a deep one, and one she wasn't sure she could answer. Maybe it would be one of those rhetorical ones. "There are some things," she finally said, taking Keren's free hand. "That can be expressed with words. And some that can't. So they need to be shown through action. Maybe for them, just like people, fighting is how it works. We can't escape pain, no matter where we go. Because once we experience it, we don't forget it exists. So there's no way to avoid it. But maybe..." she looked outside. "Maybe we can find a way that doesn't kill someone. If we can't avoid fighting, we can maybe avoid losing well, what's left of us." She smiled shyly. "I don't know if that was an answer but, we chose to be here, so we need to accept it and handle it the best we can."

Keren hiccuped a little, mulling over Sayo's words. She made a lot of sense. They'd stop this fighting, even if it meant fighting to do it. Unlike their opponents, they wouldn't try killing them. No, death was bad, death was final. She remembered hearing about Snimon, about how he had been killed even when he'd only been minding his own business tending to an important part of food industry for this place. She wouldn't let things like that happen again. Her hand tightened in Sayo's grip to let her know she understood as she basked in the hair petting Yuugo gave her. It reminded her so much of how Koh would hug her at night and let her cry.

She needed to stop crying, too. Crying wouldn't do any good here.

Sayo smiled a little and watched the others, waiting to see that they were planning to. Yuugo mentally sighed in relief. She was going to be okay.

Niko joined Rina by the window while Keren cowered by Yuugo and Sayo, whimpering softly. Niko had an uncharacteristic look on his face, one that was fierce despite how scared he looked. He'd even found a pair of paw canes that Jijimon had in reserve. While he was very sure they'd never get these things to work for them like they did their maker and master, they could at least use them as make shift weapons in the case some of these weird commando dinosaurs got into the house.

"You're used to this, aren't you?" Niko asked his friend, noticing that unlike everyone else, Rina didn't seem scared in the least. He knew she was a strange girl and he'd sometimes seen her with strange expressions, like she hadn't known how to deal with certain emotional stimuli except but to smile, but this was different. She was different. She looked like she had expected this. He handed a cane to her.

Rina took it with a nod of thanks, testing its weight. She looked at him, befuddled. Used to it? That was a weird way to put it. She had lived the same way he had for a couple of years now, and all. But even if she hadn't... used to it was a weird way to say it still. It just was how it worked. "Don't have to be used to it to see this coming," she replied, looking outside. "There was a fight. People usually retaliate if they lose. And considering what that guy said, it makes sense that there are raids and stuff here. That's the best way to keep people run down." She rolled her shoulders and took her free hand from her pocket. "But yeah, I guess. Why? Think I'll get you in your sleep?" She grinned, one eye on the outside.

Niko stared at Rina, unimpressed. He gently bopped her with his cane, scoffing. "Yeah, if you were ever going to do that you'd have done it by now." He said. Everything she said made sense. As much as people tried to hide it, as much as Japan tried to focus on only its history and white wash everything, the same thing had happened in their own world. Hell, it still happened in their own world. It typically happened in impoverished nations and regions but Niko could even see some of it happen in supposed developed, first world nations, even if on a smaller scale. After all, he had heard many times from his teachers that 'the nail that stands out gets pounded down on' a lot, simply because of his looks. It might not have matched this situation a lot but somehow he had a feeling there was some form of similarity. "So what are we gonna do if they win or lose out there? Look for Jijimon? I don't think sticking around is a good idea."

Rina grinned, guessing what he was thinking. Then she sobered. "We won't be able to pull this off again," she said. "We need to stabilize this place and make it easy to fix if they come back. But we need to be gone for a while too. If we can root out any reinforcements, great, but we need to basically go poof for a bit. Until we find Jijimon. Or until they're gone for a bit. Whichever."

Niko nodded, looking outside now. It seemed their Digimon plus Tyrone were quickly mopping up the last few stragglers of the sixty commando dinosaurs that had come to this house. "Yeah." He mumbled. "We'll have to be careful, then. Can't let anyone else see or hear us while we look for allies, then."

"Might be good to split into two groups then," Rina mused. "Cover more ground. We're gonna have to be more careful but still." She really wanted to climb a building. Most people never bothered to look up.

Niko blinked for a moment. "Isn't splitting up a bad idea, though? Wouldn't it be safer to stick together?" He asked.

Rina sighed. "Would be, if it weren't for the fact that it would be a lot of us in small, cramped quarters. These streets will already be on us. We can't separate too far, but we'll be trouble if we're all caught."

Niko stared at her a little, frowning as he tried to refute what she said in his own mind. He couldn't think of anything, though, what she said made some sense. Plus, well, she looked and sounded like she had experience with this. "Alright..." He nodded. "We'll go with your way. Hopefully it won't get us killed."

"So we're splitting up, then?" Taiga asked, gently running his thumb over the back of Mirei's hand comfortingly. "Well, who's going with who, then? Are the love birds sticking together?" He nodded at Keren, Sayo and Yuugo. He gave the boy in that group a wink and a smile, as if to be encouraging.

Yuugo raised an eyebrow and smirked. "Jealous?" He quipped as he took Keren's other hand. "We're a smaller group and Sayo has good ears. Probably should be fine as we are."

Rina smiled a bit. "Shouldn't. Though unless we four split into two, we might be the worst off. Don't think we should though." She looked around. "Let's get ready. Find more weapons, hide extra supplies and be ready to bolt back and defend territory, I.e. here." She tapped the floor with her foot.

"Jealous of what?" Taiga smiled. "Your little harem? One girl is enough for me, thanks, and I got one already." He held up Mirei's hand. Niko bopped him with the paw cane this time. "Ow."

"And you tell me to take it easy." The blond rolled his eyes, glancing over. Poor Keren was red as a tomato, poor girl. "Anyway, we already have all our supplies in our packs. We didn't give those apple things to Jijimon though, so we might want to leave those behind. I found these in the basement though." He motioned at the cane. "So we'll probably find more there."

Yuugo smiled innocently. "Boy, he jumps fast." Sayo giggled. Yuugo reached out and patted Keren's head. "We're going to be fine, see?"

Mirei looked between them, eyes puzzled. "What are you all talking about?"

Rina chuckled and nodded, taking Taiga's bag. She wished she had hers, but that had gotten lost... a long time ago. "Okay let's look."

Keren nodded, beet red and still a little teary eyed. She wiped her face with her shirt sleeve, trying to erase the marks her tears made. Taiga shook his head at them before glancing down at Mirei. He chuckled.

"Oh, just silly stuff older kids have to worry about." He told her. "Don't worry about it, Mirei-chan. Let's go find something to defend ourselves so you don't have to keep making ice things, okay?" He began to lead her to the basement's entrance, door off to the side.

Mirei tilted her head. "I won't wear myself out that much." It wasn't like she made blizzards with snow eight feet high everywhere you looked all of the time. That had been her first time. But he seemed worried about her. That was silly. She liked making ice. It made her think of her papa and when he made the ceiling snow. Still, if everyone worried they wouldn't focus on the job at hand. She would try to do it less.

Rina stepped easily down the steps after Niko, humming to herself. The Digimon were still outside, thankfully. If something happened, they would hear it. "Where'd you find the good stuff?"

Yuugo patted Keren's head again, chuckling gently. "Breathe, okay? They're just jealous we're already friends." Sayo made a noise of mild disbelief at his side, trying not to snort.

* * *

Tyrone crushed one last Commandramon with his club, snorting. Bagra Soldiers were really weak if a group of nine rookies were able to take out a group of sixty plus commandos armed to the teeth. He glanced around, seeing Fergus panting harshly and Sashenka shaking his hands out, as if trying to get feeling back into them after punching out so many soldiers. Dolce came down to land on Artemis' head, folding up her wings tiredly.

"Well, we won." Fergus panted. "Now what?"

Falcor sidled up to him. "Which way did you see them coming from?" He yawned but that was the extent of it. The training helped after all.

Ivy and Rue trotted to make sure none of the enemies would get up. "We look for helpers."

Artemis leaned against the wall, ears drooping even as they weakly continued to wobble.

"Bah, like I'd know." Tyrone snorted. He peered around, trying to see if he could catch sight of anything. He saw some foot prints in the dirt of the road and pointed. "Looks like this lot came from the center of town." He stated. "Same way Jijimon went. If we gonna find and group up with the rest of the town, we'll need to go that way, too. Unless we cut through the rail road plains to get to the western entrance. But that'll take longer, and who knows if they got us surrounded out there."

Falcor nodded. "The best and worst place to be would be with the babies as it is. They have better supplies. Still, we'll be surrounded no matter where we go, I think. Center of town is probably not much better."


	10. Stronger Monster

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning for violence, harm to children, cursing, and dismemberment.

After a minute of gathering up suitable things to defend themselves, the children went out to meet with their Digimon. After telling them the plan, they split up - some going down the path the Commandramons had come down, some going into the alley ways on either side. They'd meet up in the center of town, where they'd hopefully find someone to either help them or to help.

Keren, Sayo, Yuugo and their Digimon plus Tyrone were going down the street. Keren was still blushing over Yuugo calling them friends, somewhat wonder-struck. She hadn't had friends outside of her brother before. Even so, she thought it was a little soon to be called such. They'd only met today, after all. It wasn't a bad feeling to be called someone's friend, but... it was something she wasn't used to. Maybe he was just being nice to her. Even if it was, it didn't feel as odd as she had thought it would.

She cradled Dolce closer. Keren ultimately didn't mind. Dolce was a more comforting presence than her own mother (far more so, in fact), and Sayo and Yuugo definitely helped fill the void that her brother's absence had left. She still wished Koh was here, or she was back home with him - but it wasn't a terrible longing, not yet at least.

Tyrone was sticking close to the children, too, if for no other reason than to act as the body guard. He didn't smell very nice, like he had yet to bathe from a hard workout, but his confidence as he walked was oddly reassuring to Keren. If only she could be half that confident.

Yuugo peered over at Keren. "Breathe," he said softly. "We're going to be all right, but you don't want to trip, right?" He wasn't sure what she was still red over. Not that it wasn't cute and a bit amusing, but he didn't want her to burst or something. Especially with the likelihood of enemies still nearby. That wouldn't help them at all.

Sayo crept after Artemis. Falcor was towards the front, sniffing at the sides of buildings and rubbing against them. She'd think it was a giant signal that they were here if she wasn't getting the feeling it was simply because the lion cub had an itch. She was surprised the critter hadn't cut himself yet. Everything here was really sharp. Probably because most of it was run down and broken.

"Gotta wonder how the ruling party thinks this is a great idea," Artemis muttered sourly under her breath. "Yes, break one of the central hubs of the world to the point where it barely runs and expect them build back up again. Great idea. Great for world domination. It's never been done before and clearly works out all of the time."

Well, at least one of them could make sarcasm an art form.

"I think they figured that they can take the resources from similar hubs in the rest of the world to build it back up." Dolce answered Artemis, even if she hadn't been looking for one. "Build a nice big statue of both the Emperor and the conquering general in the square, too. Make it out of gold while they're at it. Either way, they don't consider our homes to be much of importance."

"Bah." Tyrone grumbled. "Stop talkin' this depressing nonsense. They want our land, is all there is to it. Best way to take what ya want, ya fight for it. Even if you have to destroy it first."

Keren flushed even more at Yuugo's words, trying not to pay attention to the Digimon's conversation. "O-okay." She murmured, looking down at her feet as they walked. She wished she didn't get so embarrassed so quickly... But she supposed it was better than being depressed about their situation, or the way these poor Digimon lived in such squalor.

Artemis snorted. "Yes, and that whole, and then what, question. What are they gonna do with it, will there be anyone after the end, blah blah, all of that? Gotta wonder, with the ruler of this army sitting pretty on his throne, if he's ever mentioned that."

"War is profitable." Sayo's voice was thoughtful when she interrupted. "I-It's how it seems in the books lately."

Artemis raised an eyebrow. "You sure you're a human kid?"

Sayo flushed. "Yes." What was that supposed to mean?

"Education is important," Yuugo singsonged. "If only to ignore those who dislike it."

"Like Arata-kun," Sayo mused.

"He hates _standard_ education," Yuugo corrected and he smiled at Keren again, though she couldn't see it. "Doesn't like a lot of things really though." He glanced at Falcor. "Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"Well, it feels good," Falcor said with a grin, rubbing against the wall ahead.

"Education anything like trainin'?" Tyrone asked the children, looking back at them. He noticed Keren seemed to become even more uncomfortable at the mention of this 'education' thing, which Dolce already seemed on top of, gently patting her partner's cheek. "'cause none of ya look like warriors. Ya sound smart though."

"We have a gym class," Yuugo said after a moment. "And health, to make sure we're eating right and taking care of ourselves. Most of our education is focused on improving our minds instead. We have after school activities like kendo or track or martial arts, and those are required on some level, but that depends on how you learn or who from."

"My-my mama," Sayo murmured. "She's taught me how to fight a bit."

"Mostly how to _duck_." Yuugo's voice came out softly scathing. Sayo patted his hand in placation, but didn't disagree.

"Oh." Tyrone blinked. He saw Artemis actually give a look of concern to her partner, even if it only seemed slight. He didn't know what kept that girl from speaking her mind though, as she said nothing. Tyrone was about to ask what might have been a massively insensitive question, when suddenly something flittered across his senses.

He noticed that Falcor had paused as well. Of course he would, they were probably the best trained child levels there. Dolce and Artemis froze as well after they did. "Tykes, ya might need to hide." Tyrone advised lowly, after a few seconds. "Or get ready ta run."

Artemis glanced at her fellow Digimon. "Make a cover for them." Her ears slowly started to vibrate. Falcor moved very carefully underneath a broken window.

Yuugo, making an executive decision of supreme foolishness (Sayo would probably tell you he has a habit of making these), moved Keren and Sayo in front of him to hide under a particularly harmless pile of tattered fabric and wood. Sayo tugged him after but he darted off, looking for a different place to hide.

Something crashed down from the roofs of the buildings around them, however, landing right in Yuugo's path and snatching him up. There was a curse as the Digimon all turned to this, freezing as a knife was held against the boy's vulnerable neck, his back pinned against an armored chest. A wretched chuckle came from the man-sized, bipedal armored drake who stared at them all through a mono-eyed set of high tech combat goggles, a grin on its snout.

"Well well well, look what we have here." He all but purred. "A bunch of lost children who have no idea what dangers await them. Breaks my heart it does, seeing you all wandering almost into the thick of battle. How's about I escort all of you to a far more fitting place for children to be...?"

"Let him go. Now." Dolce demanded, fluttering a little higher and glaring down at him.

"Oh, now why would I do that? Poor boy looks like he could use a bit of a break from walking." The newcomer's mono-eye focused on her for a second. Yuugo resisted the instinct to try and squirm free, feeling the knife dangerously close to the back of his neck. He knew it would take a bit of pressure to push the blade through his spine and into his windpipe, and it wasn't hard to figure that was just what this guy would do in an instant. He just had to pray the other two didn't come out. Or get dragged out.

Falcor had stiffened, his big blue eyes going cold with fear and anger, more of the latter, as usually he didn't know how to be afraid. He dropped onto the ground, looking for all the world like he was prepared to nap. Instead, however, he could, and would, pounce. Artemis grimaced, but she couldn't risk her ears. If she could just get one good shot in…

Sayo froze, the glint of the knife making her think of somewhere else entirely. Her best friend's gasps of air abruptly jolted her back into the present and she squirmed. If she ran out, she would just be another target, just like always. But... She placed a hand on Keren's shoulder, mostly to ground herself.

Keren all but latched onto Sayo's arm, to keep herself grounded as well. One of the only people in her entire life outside of her brother that had been nice to her was in trouble and she was sitting there being useless. She didn't care if it would hurt her, she wanted - needed to go out there and help him. She had to do something, but what? Sayo was the only thing keeping her from giving their position away, as she bit her lip in fear and frustration.

Their unique position allowed them to see Tyrone slowly moving behind the armored, mono-eyed man drake. The goblin was being remarkably stealthy for someone who had been so loud earlier.

"In fact... I'm reasonably sure that if I drop the boy here and now, you'd all take the chance to pounce, wouldn't you?" The creature continued its gloating, genuinely unawares. "I can't have that. Not when I can easily make all four of you peacefully surrender arms and come with me to a delightful little area where all your needs will be met in due time."

"Before or after you brainwash us in that prison camp to be your willing slaves?" Dolce asked hotly. She was keeping his attention on her, Artemis and Falcor, since they were the most distressed looking. She, too, saw Tyrone's strategy and was doing all she could to make sure it worked.

"Maybe a little of both, if you give us a reason to treat you well." The Sealsdramon's mono-eye focused on her again, smirking lightly. "A fiery little peach like you must evolve into something quite fetching. I'm sure we can get some use out of that." Dolce scowled at him in return.

Sayo managed to smile at Keren, shaking her head silently. Yuugo would be all right. She just hoped everyone else would be. She kept one eye on Tyrone, if only to see if he could get away with this. Then she could get their friend safe. Now, that harming her was irrelevant in her mind. Harm was an occupational hazard.

Artemis scowled. "I'm pretty sure I have a better shot at that than you bucko," she said with a sneer. "Get near her like that and I will curse any organs like that off and more. And that's not even going into what will happen if you and your man-posse touch _me_." She didn't even seem to notice Tyrone was moving, but then, she wouldn't. She was more focused on the two hidden kids.

Sealsdramon chuckled, still not noticing Tyrone creep up on him - the goggles really weren't helping him in this case. "Well now, feisty aren't you? You'll be another peach we'll have to-"

Tyrone kicked the back of his knee, sending him to his knees and jostling Yuugo from his grip. After that, seeing Yuugo out of harm's way, Tyrone let out a loud roar as he brought his club hard down on Sealsdramon's back and forced him to the rest of the way to the ground, cracking the road under him. Sealsdramon gagged as the air left him.

"GET BACK TO THE OTHERS, YA LUMP!" Tyrone barked at Yuugo, who was sitting there staring at him. He drew his club back and brought it down at Sealsdramon's back, but the Champion was already rolling away and jumping to his feet, hopping up to cling to a wall - out of his reach, for the moment. But there were several long range fighters here, so he was hopping from that perch when a cloud of purple mist was fired at him by Dolce.

Yuugo nodded, hurriedly scampering away to the hiding place, eyes wide. Sayo barely restrained herself from pulling him into a hug and instead resorted to pulling him next to them, crouched and watching. Falcor, free of his problems, leaped from the side, intent on putting the soldier off balance.

Artemis scowled in amusement, sending wave after wave of bubbles towards the other Digimon. If he wanted to run, she could play with that, thank you very much.

Sealsdramon, despite being caught by surprise by Tyrone before, was proving competent however. He sliced through Artemis bubbles with his knife and jumped away from Falcor's leap, danced by Tyrone and kicked him in the face when he came in to smack Sealsdramon with his club and rolled away from Dolce's next cloud of poison. He tumbled forward in another roll, coming to a stop in front of Artemis to bring his foot down in an axe kick on her head.

Artemis grunted at the weight, making to duck and avoid the brunt of the blow. "Heavy... must be all of the rocks in your brain..." She moved to get away, grimacing in pain. Falcor managed a quick spin and jumped for Sealsdramon's balancing leg.

Sayo looked around and winced. There was nothing she could use, but somehow, they needed to throw him off-balance again. He won't hesitate with a hostage now. They had gotten one good hit on him. And he wasn't a bully who would stop once you did that. He was a killer. They had to give him no reason to try killing them again. But... how?

Sealsdramon let out a curse when Falcor took him down and clung to his leg. However, the man-drake wasn't finished, far from it. He slammed Falcor hard onto the ground after lifting his leg into the air and flipped back into his feet. He ran up another wall to get way from a ball of force Dolce spat at him and jumped at her, spiking her down into the ground.

Keren tried to keep herself from screaming as she watched, tightening her grip on Sayo and now Yuugo so she didn't race out to check on the injured hamster.

Sayo winced at the strength of Keren's grip. "Don't," she whispered.

Dolce managed to stand and run out of the way when Sealsdramon came back down, but nothing stopped her from flying when he bolted after her and kicked her like she was a football. A fireball slammed into Sealsdramon's face and completely shattered his goggles, making the man-drake stumble with a cry, covering his eyes.

Tyrone looked really pleased with himself for that one, forming another Goblin Strike in his hand.

Artemis darted between Dolce and Sealsdramon, firing a ball of water right into his face. "Falcor, get her out of the way!" It was a testament to how not happy he was that Falcor immediately obeyed, running to gently lift the injured hamster and scurry away. "Tyrone, are you gonna stand there and pose or keep fighting?" The rabbit adjusted her stance, claws turning purple. "You're mister big, tough, and training from sun to sun, so prove it!" She aimed for the dragon's stomach, intent on slicing in and ruining his bloodstream.

"Don't take that tone with me, rabbit!" Tyrone growled, throwing the fireball as well. It impacted with Sealsdramon's chest and sent him stumbling back even more, opening him up for Artemis second attack. Sealsdramon growled as his armor hissed, the poison potent enough to also be acid. He kicked Artemis right in the face to send her away and give him space. Seeing Tyrone beginning to summon another fireball, Sealsdramon decided 'screw it' and threw his knife.

Tyrone looked down in surprised when the weapon sank into his chest, blade first. He distantly heard a cry from all three human children, as well as a protest from Falcor and the other Digimon. His attack fizzled as Sealsdramon raced over and punched him in the face twice after grabbing him by the tunic, then took his legs out from under him by swiping his knee. Sealsdramon withdrew the knife from Tyrone's chest mid-fall and slammed him into the ground by the throat before stabbing him three more times in the chest. He was about to slice Tyrone's throat open for a coup de grâce but a ball of force slammed into his face and sent him careening into a wall.

Keren bolted from their hiding place, even though Sayo and Yuugo tried to stop her. The girl knelt by the bleeding goblin's side as he struggled to breathe, barely able to stay conscious. Dolce managed to flutter over to her side. Keren was trying to do what she could to staunch the bleeding, taking things out of her pack like a dress shirt and press it to Tyrone's wounds, barely able to keep herself from weeping.

"Should have dodged, you fool." Dolce managed to get out, her deadpan tone broken from sounding so tired and injured, not to mention upset for some reason.

Artemis swore and Falcor made himself get back up again, rushing for Sealsdramon's neck while he was still down. He thought he was seeing red. He thought he was actually kind of angry. So he had to do something with that, or he wouldn't get anywhere.

Sealsdramon lifted his arm just in time to block Falcor's jaws from closing in on his neck. The armor protected his flesh too, so all he did was growl as he worked to make the cub let go or throw him off, bashing the cub's head with his fist to make him do the first.

Falcor just sank his teeth in even further and swung his claws at Sealsdramon's other arm. Falcor could be as stubborn as a Mammothmon when he felt like it and for Tyrone's sake, this was one of those times. He tasted blood, but that didn't stop him any.

Artemis moved between them. "Girl, get back in your hiding place! You want him to have fought for nothing?"

Sayo froze in complete horror. Then her ears caught the clatter of the knife as it hit the ground. She bolted from the hiding spot before she could stop herself, rushing to grab it. She nearly dropped it, the slick handle wet with blood and heavier than she had expected it. But she lifted it up in both hands. He would have to get it back, and even if he could kill them without it, it would take longer. Surely, someone would notice they had taken too long. She tried to remember what her father had said, when they were very young and nearly robbed.

 _'Remember, slice at the limbs, and stab at the torso. That's the only way to use a knife to protect yourself. Don't go for the neck, not unless you think you can kill them._ '

She highly doubted any of them could kill anyone.

"Oh god, you're stupid too," Artemis muttered.

Keren shook her head, still trying to stop the bleeding as she cried furiously. She was useless otherwise, what good could she do other than try and give the goblin immediate medical attention so there was a chance they could save him. Dolce looked at her in concern, before trying to help as well, wincing at the blood that just kept seeping through the fabric of the shirt.

Tyrone looked up at her in confusion, wondering why she was so upset. He hadn't really spoken with her, he didn't know her. He wasn't her friend. Why was she crying over him? Why didn't she stay hidden? He'd failed. Despite being the best trained warrior here, he'd still messed up and gotten himself like this, despite his boasting. He deserved his fate. Why was she doing this?

Sayo finally made her way over to them. "M-Move your hands," she instructed. She knew that would seem counterproductive but his wounds, bad ones, she knew like the lines of her palms. She gently pulled Keren's fingers away, the knife carefully resting next to her knee. She reached into her pack and began to fold the next fabric more tightly and looked sympathetically at Tyrone. "S-Sorry," she said, and pressed down hard. Keren had been doing well, but she and Dolce weren't putting enough pressure. Keren was shaking too hard.

She looked up at Keren. "M-My bag," she said, vaguely gesturing to her back. "There are first aid items in it. Get the dressing and tape out. Th-then, well..." She had to hope they could be fast enough. "Tyrone, c-can you feel if the k-knife went all the way through?" She had never seen it, and her father had never mentioned it, but these were different weapons.

Artemis sighed and her ears started to ripple again. She went to go help Falcor. Someone had to or this guy would finish the job.

Sealsdramon roared in pain and reached down to Falcor's throat, wrapping his hand around it in a choking grip. He felt Falcor lessen his grip as he tried to breathe, so Sealsdramon tore the cub off of him and rolled them over, bashing his fist repeatedly into the struggling cub's face. He reached out and snatched Artemis out of the air and began to bash her repeatedly into the wall, snarling. He was done with this now. No more mercy.

Keren, the wreck she was, went through Sayo's bag as instructed, trying not to make a mess with her blood covered hands. She got the dressing out as well as the tape, her shaking getting even worse at the loud, rattling sound Tyrone gave.

"Think..." The goblin gurgled for a moment as he tried to speak before he tilted his head to the side and hacked out mucus and blood. He managed to speak when he tried a second time, though his voice was weak, "T-think that bloke... Got a lung... Not sure... What else…"

Falcor coughed for air as Artemis snarled pain. He crouched, gathering energy into his winded limbs. Artemis groaned and her claws scrabbled at flesh, aiming to poison, to cripple, to get him off-

A piece of glass went arcing through the air, striking Sealsdramon in the shoulder and shattering harmlessly. Sealsdramon's eyes were practically glowing with his hatred as he slowly turned to look back at Yuugo. The boy shook, but he threw another. Then he darted back into the gloom of the alley, aiming to find another place to throw from.

Sayo grimaced. "Blood in the lungs..." There was very little she could do about that. She smiled at Keren and went to take the items. As she did, she caught sight of the battle and flinched. "You and Dolce... go help them. It's okay." She moved the blood soaked shirt away and with another fabric started wiping. "I... I can take care of this. We, we need to stop him." She began to dress the wound, breathing slowly to keep the panic from bursting out.

Keren looked at Sayo for a moment, still shaking. After glancing at Dolce and seeing her nod, she nodded as well and turned - only to see Yuugo run into the alleyway with Sealsdramon right on his heel. She opened her mouth, her eyes widening. Dolce vibrated in absolute rage beside her.

"No, no, no. You've already taken someone from me." The hamster whispered harshly, not knowing the girls and Tyrone heard her. Her deadpan façade was a mere memory now. "You've nearly done so a second time, with all of them. I will not... I will not allow you to take anyone else! NEVER AGAIN!"

With that shout, something happened to Keren as well. She let out a scream, for Yuugo to wait, for Sealsdramon to stop. As it happened, their feelings connected and... Well. That was enough for the Digivice to activate its Digi-Entelechy. A glow came from the silvery blue device's screen and hit Dolce with a ray of light. When it was over she was... Different.

She was as tall as a fully grown human woman and looked a lot like one, too. If not for her longer than normal arms and larger than normal hands with fingers that looked more like claws. She wore a red dress that looked like it restricted movement with her legs, violet boots, wore a red, long brimmed witch's hat and wore purple lipstick. Green eyes glared at the alleyway Yuugo and Sealsdramon disappeared into and she snapped her fingers. A broom appeared in a flash near her hand, and she grabbed it and sat firmly on it. It began to levitate like Jijimon's paw cane did and she flew off after them, blades of wind forming around her as she did.

"W-what was-" Tyrone's baffled question was cut off from him hacking up more blood.

Sayo broke from her shock and gave another firm press to Tyrone's wound. "Stop that!" She looked very stern then looked up at Keren. "You should go after her. I don't, well..." She smiled a bit. "Don't think I'll be much help, but she'll protect you." Of that, she was sure.

Falcor didn't even pay attention, forcing his tired body up and going after them. They wouldn't take what was his. They wouldn't get away with what they'd done.

Keren looked at Sayo once more before she nodded. "O-okay. I will." She stood shakily and began to run after the four before her. She hoped she didn't get in the way and that she wasn't too late. Tyrone, meanwhile, merely groaned and looked like he was in a lot of pain and wished he wasn't.

* * *

Yuugo skirted in another sharp turn, rolling into a small space and scrambling away. In retrospect this was dangerous and stupid but it was better than letting his partner get turned into wall paste thank you.

Sealsdramon stopped where he saw the boy turn, looking around. His eyes were damaged from taking a fireball and a blast of salt water to the face, making his vision somewhat blurry. He looked around, snarling as he sniffed the air. He detected Yuugo's scent easily, but decided to let the boy have a false sense of security for a moment and moved on from directly in front of the boy's hiding spot, throwing some things down further into the alley to mask his continued presence. Then he waited.

When the boy poked his head out to see if Sealsdramon had moved on, the man-drake grabbed the boy by the hair and dragged him out the rest of the way and roughly shoved him up against the wally. Sealsdramon wore a cruel grin as he leaned in, glaring into Yuugo's fearful eyes with his angry ones.

"You fucked up again, boy," He spat. "I was going to let you and your friends go, but I now? Now I won't mind seeing what your brains look like before you become data!"

The man-drake pulled his fist back, about to pound Yuugo's face into the wall... But a gloved, claw-like hand wrapped around his forearm and stopped him before it could race forward. Both he and Yuugo stared at each other for a moment before looking over.

Dolce's new face was giving Sealsdramon a glare so harsh that if looks could kill, he'd be ashes under her assault. "No. No you won't. You never will." She hissed, swiping with her other hand. A blade made of shimmering wind cut through the air to Sealsdramon's arm, holding Yuugo against the wall. It then cut through his armor, his flesh and then his bone, severing that arm completely at the elbow, sending a spray of blood all over the three of them.

Sealsdramon _squealed_ in pain, stumbling away from them both. Dolce walked forward to him, balls of water forming in the air and battering against him, sending him stumbling back more away from Yuugo.

Yuugo didn't exactly try to stay close to him at that point. He scrambled away from Dolce and Sealsdramon, making to hide again. She had just cut off that thing's _arm_. And he couldn't calm her down either. He wasn't her partner. He bolted away from the severed appendage, muffling a noise of fear. In the back of his mind, he was kind of hoping the others were having a better run for cover than this.

Dolce raised her arm and another blade of air sliced forth and cut off Sealsdramon's other arm. The poor man-drake screamed again, blood fountaining from his new wound. Another blade of wind cut off his legs just at his thighs, sending him crashing to the floor. The Digimon could only writhe ineffectually on the ground, trying to get away, but Dolce's foot landing on his chest and pinning him down made him stop. His whimpers and quiet pleas to spare his life were like music to her ears.

She glared down at him, forming another blade of wind to finish him off with, but tiny arms wrapping around her waist made her pause. She looked behind her, surprised to see Keren burying her face into her back and trembling as she latched onto her.

"D-don't do it." The blonde haired girl whispered. "P-please, d-don't."

"He was going to do the same to all of us, little one." Dolce said, her voice deeper and more mature sounding than her previous form. Instead of sounding like a girl about Keren's age, she sounded like a woman, she sounded almost like Keren's mom. "He hurt Tyrone. He hurt Falcor and Artemis. He was about to do the same to Yuugo. He planned to do worse to us girls. You can't tell me to give mercy to a monster like this. Especially not when he's part of the force attacking this CITY!"

Keren shook her head furiously. "B-but you made him helpless!" She cried. "He's... He's only a torso now, he won't be able to live without assistance now! If... If you want revenge for what he did, for what he was part of, for what he was going to do... I-if revenge is more important than not b-becoming a monster j-just like him... Then g-giving him mercy n-now is the best revenge y-you'll ever get!"

Dolce was blown away by the forcefulness in the girl's voice, in her words, in her actions. She was trying to pull Dolce away from her would be victim now. After a moment, Dolce let her. Keren's words made sense... Letting him live now would be the worst indignity he could ever suffer. If he even survived. The attacking army could decide to just dump him somewhere and let the wild take care of this problem.

Falcor watched this exchange, then exhaled heavily and trotted away from the fallen Digimon. No way he could rip him limb from limb now, he supposed. Not that he could have. He trotted up to Yuugo, smelling fear and blood and possibly guilt. He was never sure about that last one.

He went over and started to lick at the boy's face and hair. Yuugo flinched at first but slowly relaxed, letting the cub clean him off as best as he could. Wasn't going to happen like this again, Falcor decided, even as much as his mind wanted to just sleep. He would do better next time. He would.


	11. Fallen Down (Down, Down, Down)

**Chapter 10: Fallen Down (Down, Down, Down)**

If Taiga were more petty and the situation allowed it, he'd have been envious of Rina's obvious athleticism. She was racing ahead of both him and Niko while encumbered by Taiga's heavy bag. He didn't know how she could, since she was just as skinny a person as he was but he wasn't exactly in a position to complain. They'd heard the sounds of fighting from the others on the main road so they were on their way to try and assist. He'd decided to give Mirei another piggyback ride since her legs were so short and had passed his bag over to Rina, and she'd just flown off ahead like it weighed nothing, her little dragon buddy right beside her. Fergus, Sashenka, Ivy and Rue stuck with them, even as Rina disappeared around the bend.

"Man, and I wonder how she just doesn't _destroy_ track at school." Taiga panted **,** out of breath, sweat dripping down his forehead.

"Because she doesn't care enough about anything give it her all unless it's life or death, apparently." Niko grunted, straining a little under his pack now. They were going to have to rest soon, the extra supplies really didn't help with the weight.

Mirei wasn't sure how to react to being carried around this easily. It was probably better this way, seeing as she was so small. Still a bit humiliating. She lifted her head.

"She's stopped," she said, admiring the speed a little. It was kind of refreshing to see someone with so much energy.

Ivy sniffed and wrinkled her nose. "Blood."

Mirei flinched, grip on Taiga growing tighter.

When they all rounded the corner as well, they nearly ran into the poor pup. Mainly because they were shocked at what they saw. I mean, it's not every day when you see people who not only looked ruffled from a rather harsh tussle (Falcor), with half their face swelling and bruising (Artemis), covered in blood (Sayo, Yuugo, Keren and a very strange looking woman they never saw before) and another person laying on the ground with bandages wrapped around his chest and soaked with blood (Tyrone) and a whimpering torso of someone who was having the stumps of his arms and legs cauterized (The enemy Sealsdramon).

It was probably those last two things that had the boys freezing completely, shocked to the core. Fergus and Sasha, however, immediately ran up to their friends and began to fuss. Mirei instantly backpedaled, jumping off of Taiga and hiding behind one of the buildings. She looked about ready to vomit, curling into a trembling ball to avoid it. Rue went after her, patting her legs with her tiny paws. Taiga chased over her after a moment, seeing everything else was being cared for and allowing his concern with the tiny girl to override everything else.

"What mountain did you get mad at you, Arte? Yeesh." Fergus said. The sympathy he had for her could be heard in his voice.

"One more of an asshole than you," Artemis grunted, rubbing water over her face to lower the swelling.

"What the devil happened here?" Sasha asked, completely flabbergasted and concerned beyond belief. He eyed the new arrival cautiously. If Sealsdramon had more presence of mind he'd probably glare in return, but the strange woman was going about her job of burning his stumps shut with a burning iron.

Sayo looked up at Rina and Niko, wiping her face and cleaning the blood off as she packed her first aid away. She managed a weak smile. "We made it out."

Rina went over to them. Yuugo made a noise of discontent, but she ignored it, checking the bruises of fingermarks on his neck.

"Made it out of what?" Niko blurted out, staring at everything incredulously. It was just so... So... He didn't know how to describe the feeling in him that welled up at seeing their injured, this weird woman and the whimpering thing reduced to a torso getting its stumps cauterized. This girl, covered with blood (and with a new knife that looked almost like a bowie knife in her tiny hands), putting away first aid stuff she'd most likely placed on one of their protectors... He just didn't know how to deal with this. He'd already been coming to terms with having to come to this crazy world, this was something else entirely.

Sayo looked at him, which required the slightest bit of neck strain because one, she was short, and two, she was sitting, and only blinked. The terror had left her now, mostly because the adrenaline was gone. At this point, the girl was simply exhausted. But she couldn't pass out yet, not until she helped Yuugo and moved the injured Digimon somewhere safe. No one else would help, aside from all of them. "We got into a fight," she said, wincing slightly. "Keren... Keren-chan was incredible." She smiled a little again and set the knife down by her back, going to Yuugo now.

Rina moved back, seemingly acquiescing, and for Niko that was another sign of the apocalypse. "He won't need much, but definitely a lot of painkillers."

"Well, I have a bottle," Sayo admitted. Never mind why she casually carried around a large bottle of painkillers, that was a silly question. She gently pulled her best friend into a hug. He returned it in under a second, clutching her like she had been the one nearly killed twice in the span of a couple of minutes. Sayo relaxed and then moved to patch him up too.

She looked over at Dolce when she had finished. "Can I bandage him when you're done?" She looked away quickly from what the witch was doing, if only because it smelled awful.

Rina hopped to her feet again and went over to Keren. It was important to check everyone, she knew that. They didn't have the benefit of instantly knowing everyone's state after all. She was a bit surprised that Sayo was as calm as she was but considering the way she walked... well, that was for later. "How are ya doin' there?" she chirped at Keren, smiling as carefully as possible.

Dolce looked back at Sayo for a moment, her eyes glowing from the fire burning near her. Then she went back to work, pushing the hot iron to the last stump on the whining Sealsdramon, relishing the last scream she was able to pull from him. No one tried to hurt little ones around her, even if they weren't hers. No one. "You may do so now, though he doesn't deserve it." She said, tone deadpan as ever, even if everyone could hear a slight, chilling undertone of malice to it. She summoned a ball of water and splashed it onto the fire, dousing it instantly without smoke.

Sasha came up to her side, looking up at her with wide eyes. He didn't seem unsettled by the violence committed, which was pretty telling for the humans.

"You've evolved." He said.

"'Course she did, she's the oldest out of all of us. Of course she'd evolve first, Sasha." Fergus grumped at him, wandering close to Yuugo and Sayo. Falcor seemed really tense for some reason, far more tense than he'd ever seen him. It couldn't all be from Tyrone's condition. As far as he knew, not even Falcor really liked the guy, concerning as it was to see him laid out like this.

"Yes but... It was only a month ago, two at most. She should not have evolved again so soon." Sasha rebutted, still looking up at Dolce. Considering the witch said nothing, it meant either she was confused about it as well or just didn't care. Both were possible, she didn't know.

Keren looked at Rina with exhausted eyes, like her brave action of confronting her homicidal partner earlier had taxed her in a way she never felt before. After a moment, she quietly replied, "Tired. Didn't... Didn't want anyone to die..." She hadn't known she had that much strength. All she had thought of at the time was the fact that she needed to help Yuugo.

Sayo looked at Dolce with all of the courage she could muster. Which was oddly enough, a lot, considering what she had seen the woman do. "If it was about deserving," she said gently. "He'd think the same about you." She pulled out new bandages and gestured for Artemis to wet them. To probably the entire area's surprise, she did so. Sayo smiled nervously at the Sealsdramon and set to work.

Falcor's eyes flickered to Fergus and Sasha, tail lashing in dismay. He nosed at Yuugo until the boy responded. It was a delayed sort of petting, but getting that was something. He made small rumbles in his throat. He knew where the boy's thoughts were; with the severed hand that they had left in the alleyway. He had to distract him.

Rina nodded. "Then you did a brave and you need to rest," she said cheerfully. "Close your eyes for a while. We'll get you to a new safe zone and keep an eye on your partner there. Okay?" None of the events going on seemed to phase her. In fact, they only seemed to relax her more.

Dolce looked at Sayo mutely, impressed by the sheer balls on her to speak with her like that, the closest this group had to an actual adult. Artemis doing as asked without having to cajole or bribe her into it only impressed her more. After a moment she nodded and finally let the dwindling energy in her go, glowing and degenerating down to her child form and almost drooping from exhaustion.

"What!" Was pretty much the reaction you got from Sasha and Fergus.

"Keep it down, ya lumps." Tyrone muttered darkly from where he lay. "Some of us're dealing with blood loss. Gives ya a right mean headache."

After a moment, Keren nodded and finally slumped against Yuugo, unintentionally of course. She rested her head on his shoulder, eyes already closed, and began snoring softly in record time. Poor girl.

* * *

For a little thing, she sure was fast. Taiga followed Mirei back around the bend and paused. The poor girl... The adverse reaction to seeing all of that that must have come from something she clearly didn't want to talk about. So what he did was go over to her other side, the one not populated by Digimon pups, and placed his hand gently on her shoulder. He kept it there even when she tensed, giving it a comforting rub.

Mirei jumped at the touch, still shivering. She looked up at Taiga. Every instinct said cling to this person, who she couldn't consciously remember because the smell was overwhelming now that she had seen it, and it was so hard to tamp it down so hard to ignore, and- and... darn it. She clung anyway.

Taiga was surprised by the strength of the small child but held her anyway, rocking her softly. This poor girl, to have such an adverse reaction... She had seen so much. Too much. Was this going to be them in the future, shell-shocked and running away at the sight of blood? A part of him hoped not. They wouldn't do their job well otherwise.

Mirei moved with him, swallowing heavily. She needed to calm down. She had to get used to this. They were going to be in what was like a warzone after all. But all it took was shutting her eyes and she was seeing the gun go off in front of her face and the shrapnel flying. If only she had been a bit faster.

Taiga unthinkingly kissed the top of Mirei's head, trying to think of ways to comfort a panicking child, or one that desperately needed comfort otherwise and remembering seeing Mrs. Daimon do this all the time with all of her children. He was also something he got from a half forgotten memory, of someone once doing this for him when he was scared. He rubbed the girl's back and murmured gentle things to her, that he was there and he would make sure she was safe, he promised. That she didn't have to be scared of the blood, the sight and the smell. He didn't know exactly what hole he was digging himself in, but Taiga was a big hearted fool and could be forgiven for it.

Slowly, Mirei felt her grip on Taiga's shirt begin to loosen. Her harsh breaths began to slow. The frost on her shoes melted into water. Rue's paws gently rubbed circles into her pants as Ivy climbed to get closer. The two pups listened to their human's heartbeat until it began to ease. They didn't relax themselves until they heard a faint sniff. "Sorry," they heard her whisper.

"It's alright." Taiga said soothingly, gently rubbing little Mirei's back. "Believe me, I didn't like the sight of all that either... It's okay to not like it. It's okay to be afraid. I don't think worse of you for it. But will you be okay if I take you back there?"

Mirei hesitated but managed to nod. "I... ye-yes." The smell of blood was still hard to bear but she could handle it better now. She hoped so at least.

Taiga nodded, squeezing the girl softly. He was glad he'd managed to calm her down. "Alright. Let's go." He stood and helped her as well, holding her hand afterward so he could lead her back. Mirei nodded, quietly following. Her whole body still twitched at the smell, but as long as she looked away from it, she thought she would be fine. She hoped. Ivy and Rue hopped after her, staying almost dangerously close to her legs.

* * *

Sayo went back to Sealsdramon. "Try not to move," she warned. "It's going to be cold." She continued to wrap the gauze, eyes intent on not missing a spot.

Sealsdramon didn't really have much of a mind to say anything back to Sayo, merely clenching his teeth and whining from the pain as she covered his wounds with her bandages. Sayo didn't push. Poor creature. She had to help.

Falcor made a noise like a snort. He reluctantly left Yuugo's side and picked up Dolce with his mouth. Thankfully she was too tired to protest as he carried her over to plop her in Keren's lap. He went back to his spot without another word.

Rina looked around. Either they could fortify this spot, which was probably dumb, or keep going. Which was... also dumb. What was the less dumb choice? What would be safer for the group as a whole?

After a moment, Niko shook himself from his daze enough to come to Rina's side once more, which he was starting to find extremely familiar. "We need to go." Niko said. "There's not only the guys from back at Jijimon's place, but someone else unfriendly might come to check out what happened here and find us all gathered together."

Rina nodded. "Tryin'a find the best direction that's gonna help us all okay," she said, looking around.

"It's easy. We grab the ones who can't walk and carry them with us." Niko said. He went about looking for materials. "We make some make shift stretchers for torso-boy and... That guy-"

"Name's Tyrone, ya peach lump." The Goblimon groaned when he tried to huff in insult. "Ain't that hard to understand…"

"Right, him." Niko continued. "So someone will have to carry at least one part of the stretcher. Since Yuugo looks like he's off in lala-land he's out, and Keren's gone and passed out on us. So that leaves me and Taiga doing that lifting, since you became the packmule, Rina."

Rina nodded absently but was still tapping her foot. "Referring more to the best end point," she said, looking around. "Realistically, everyone's beat, and the ol' man's house is closer but it's also right in the middle of the city and so if everyone mobbed us while we were there, it'd be trouble. And if we go farther..." she gestured to Niko. "Your arms'll give out if we don' have a destination and can't have that in a fight." She pinched her nose. "V.V. can you find us the shortest route back? You and Niko's puppy will have to carry one of these guys."

V.V. nodded. "Got it! Don't get into anything!"

She grinned at him. "Not making any promises."

"But we left like sixty guys back there," Niko pointed out. "The entire reason we left was because we couldn't realistically keep them imprisoned and it wasn't safe for us there anymore. If we go back we could be walking right back into them, and they'll be angry this time!"

Rina nodded. "I know." She tapped her knee. "That's why we need to check if they're up. If they're not, we can move forward. If they are, we need to hide out in a small area near here for a while. If they come up behind us while we're carrying these two, we're in trouble." It would have been better to kill a few of them, she thought to herself. Just enough for those guys to see that it could happen and to be intimidated. Retreat on their own. But it hadn't happened. So they had to work around it.

"And if they find us with some of our own beaten up and shit while we're hiding, you don't think they'd take advantage?" Niko asked, frowning. "We need to keep moving away. Find another building to hang out in I guess. It'll be better than walking right back into their hands!"

"Do humans always fight like this..?" Sasha asked, looking somewhat distressed. Fergus shrugged, distracted by his partner rejoining the group with Mirei and her Plotmons beside them.

"Not even gone for five minutes..." Taiga sighed, shaking his head ruefully. "Record time."

Mirei looked between them with confusion. The burning smell was gone and these two were... perhaps friends did this. She didn't remember as well as she probably ought to. "Is this normal?"

"For them? Yes." Taiga chuckled tiredly.

Noisy. Rina tapped her foot, giving Nikolai an exasperated raise of an eyebrow. "That's why I sent V.V. to check," she said dryly. "He's fast and if he has a route, he can get back here faster and if it's not safe, we know where they will come from. I don't think most of us can carry two stretchers of one of these guys, much as you take pride in-"

"If Sealsdramon could walk it would be better." Sayo's quiet voice cut Rina off. Sayo finished tying the bandages. "Dolce was just protecting us and trying to help, and cutting off his legs keeps him from chasing us, but it won't help anything since we're taking him with. If we weren't it'd be okay and we could get going, but like this..." She began packing her things away. "It's more difficult to just go forward with this many hurt people. Even one less would help."

"Oh, ow." Taiga muttered into the silence. "We're not even the ones that are getting that chastising and that hurts. Sheesh."

Niko and Rina had the right mind to at least look a little guilty. Even still, Niko was going to try and argue. "And what would you even have us do? None of us know how to instantly make people better or regrow limbs. Plus that guy seems to be the one who hurt you all, so-"

He paused when there as a beeping sound at his belt. It repeated a few times, enough to make him know it wasn't stopping. He pulled the source of it off, blinking when he realized it was the weird tamagatchi that Mirei had given him - the Digivice. Then he heard another beeping, this time for Sayo. Then Keren. And Yuugo. Taiga and Mirei as well. Rina had one as well.

After a moment the beeping changed pitch, to all of their confusion. It sounded weird. Different pitches, to the point where they didn't sound alike anymore. Niko soon realized, as lights began to flash from the screens of the Digivices - they weren't beeping, they were singing. Those were synthesized voices.

"What the hell?" He muttered.

Mirei held up her own and regarded it. A small smile crossed her face. "Of course," she said quietly. "This world responds to melody. It always has." She looked over at Sayo then at the Sealsdramon. "If it's you, I think you can do it. What needs to be done, I mean."

Sayo blinked, roused from her stupor. "Me?" She wasn't really sure what to think.

Mirei nodded. "I think they're responding to you. Give them the push they need."

Sayo looked at her own and closed her fingers over the casing.

Sealsdramon stared at her in confusion, then hissed and began to writhe when the lights from the Digivices all began to glow and surround him and Tyrone. Music had long since been playing around them, coming from nowhere. Niko and Taiga were left staring in confusion, even as the healthy Digimon were left standing there, transfixed and tapping their feets to the beats.

"What's going on?" Niko asked, uncertain, looking around at everyone. "Like, really, what the hell is going on? Where's this music coming from? What's with all the light? When did our tamagatchis become vocalized things?"

Rina watched this in silence. A small smile played at her mouth as V.V. landed by her foot. She patted his head in thanks.

"The Digivices are singing," Mirei explained. "They're alive. They're responding to her wish, I believe." She gestured to Sealsdramon. She was calm now. She could word this. "They want to help him as well."

Yuugo, pulled from his stupor by the light and sound, managed a smile. "Of course…"

Sayo didn't seem to hear, still watching the Digivices with bright, curious eyes. "Please," she told it.

The Digivices responded. Rays of energy flew from the Digivices as the music reached a crescendo, Tyrone and Sealsdramon both giving shouts of surprise and for Sealsdramon, slight pain as it shot down into them. Both of them glowed brightly, making everyone look away to save their eyesight.

When the light, and the music began to fade, the Digivices fell quiet. The one in Sayo's hands gave a soft, assuring beep before following its kin into silence. Tyrone was sitting up, feeling his chest in surprise.

"I was bleedin' out! What the bloody hell did you lumps do?" He asked, incredulous. "N-not that I'm complainin', dyin' of blood loss is a bloody terrible way to go, pardon the pun. It's just..." He paused, blinking, and slowly looked over to where Sayo was near Sealsdramon. Or what had been Sealsdramon. A little purple dragon with winglets on its arms, three large claws for fingers and a single, large bump-like horn on its head was sitting there, blinking as well. He looked just as confused as they all did.

"What happened?" The purple dragon asked. He sounded so young and innocent, compared to how Sealsdramon spoke. "Where am I?"

Everyone just silently stared for a while. Then Rina bounced, chirpy as can be. "You got hit by a really nasty guy," she explained. If she had a tail, it would be wagging. She gestured to Sayo. "That girl led the way to help us save your life. And a good thing too, right?"

Sayo flushed. "Um, yeah…"

"You're probably gonna have some horrible dreams," Rina added. "But even if you think they're real, don't worry. You just have to help out here in this city and it will get better!"

The little purple dragon blinked, tilting his head curiously at Rina for a moment. Then, slowly, he nodded. "Sure... That sounds fine." He looked over at Sayo and looked up at her with such big, innocent, grateful eyes with no hint of red in them at all. "Thank you for saving my life, nice girl. I promise I'll save people like you do from now on!"

Sayo blinked, eyes going wide. They watered a little. Then, she moved and hugged the little dragon, unable to talk.

"Oh the sap is choking," Artemis muttered.

"I think I'm gonna vomit." Tyrone agreed.

"I've lost all track of what's been happening." Taiga said brightly, a smile on his face. Mirei blinked at him. He had an odd smile right now... she didn't like it.

Falcor made a face. "Ew," he mumbled. "Artemis and Tyrone agree on something." He nuzzled Yuugo's face, searching for agreement.

Rina grinned at Taiga. "They're both healed, so we don't have to wait to go forward now," she explained. "Though someone's gotta carry Keren and her plushy mom partner, and I'm pretty sure I have my hands full with you guys and your paranoia." She hefted both Taiga and Niko's bags onto her shoulders to demonstrate.

Niko muttered something unattractive under his breath. Taiga smacked the back of his head helpfully, making his best friend glare at him. Taiga only smiled right on back. "Well? You heard her. She has our bags. I can carry either but not both. Which would you rather have?"

Niko continued to glare for a moment before sighing. "I'll take Keren. You've done enough heavy lifting for today."

"Not true. Mirei is hardly heavy lifting." Taiga protested. Niko snorted, already walking away to stand next to Keren and Yuugo.

"Can you help me get her on my back?" He asked. The boy didn't seem to realize the girl had fallen asleep on him just yet. It would be cute if he were in the mood to acknowledge it.

Rina tilted her head. "I say he's right and he's still angry... I don't get it." She shrugged and adjusted the bags. Sayo picked up her own, frowning a little. For some reason it seemed a little heavier, even though she had used up a little of what was in there…

Yuugo nodded, carefully getting up to do so. He gently lifted Keren up as best as he could so Niko could adjust her appropriately. Falcor had Dolce on his back.

Niko took Keren onto his back with Yuugo's help. As he began to stand, adjusting his hold onto her legs, she wrapped her arms around his neck and nuzzled into his shoulder sleepily. Taiga couldn't help but laugh as the look on Niko's face turned from annoyance to panic in record time, especially when she muttered in her sleep about being happy her 'onii-chan' was there.

"Now if that isn't just heartwarming." He chuckled. "She's mistaken you for her brother! That must be some high praise, because she seems so happy now!" Indeed, there was a small, gentle smile on Keren's face as she slept now. It was indeed as heartwarming as it sounded. Poor Niko.

"The hell is an Oni-chan?" He heard Fergus ask Sasha. The shiba only had a shrug to answer him with.

Yuugo couldn't help the laughter bubbling from his mouth. He failed to hide it. "I-I suppose he just has that vibe to him, huh?" Sayo giggled beside him, finally picking up the bowie knife on the ground.

"It, it means dearest older brother, roughly," Sayo explained, trying to adjust her grip on it. "I call my brother that... and Yuugo-kun's sister calls him that."

"I'd have never thought that would apply to Niko in any universe," Rina chirped, watching the knife. She picked up the fallen bandages from the ground. "Here, lemme wrap your knife in this if you're gonna carry it."

Sayo tilted her head and handed it to her. "But they'll be cut through…"

"Mm, but you need some kind of sheathe until we can find something better. If you just stick it in your bag it'll be worse!" Rina quickly wrapped the gauze around it and then handed it back to her for her to put away. "No one wants you to cut yourself!"

After gathering everything together, the group set out, all together once more, with their extra little addition. Monodramon, as they learned his name was, kept close to Sayo, looking at her with big, adoring, innocent eyes every so often. Artemis glaring at him would always make him look away for a little bit.

Niko looked very uncomfortable, carrying Keren like that. But it was so cute (and apparently very amusing to Rina) to see him flustered so much by Keren's adoring mumbles for her 'onii-chan' that no one bothered trying to help.

Yuugo was being helped by Sayo, and Taiga walked with Rina and Mirei. Everyone's Digimon stuck near to them, except Dolce riding on Falcor's back in her unconsciousness.

Taiga pursed his lips in thought. After a moment he reached and tapped Rina on the shoulder. "Hey, Rina-chan. Can I ask you something?"

Sayo didn't seem to notice Monodramon looking at her with rapt adoration. She would just occasionally tug on one of Artemis' antenna, leaning Yuugo on her. Thankfully, he wasn't that much taller than her.

Mirei shushed Ivy and Rue, who seemed highly interested in eating her shoelaces again. They both pouted cutely and subsided, going to loop around her in small corcles instead.

Rina adjusted one of the straps. "Mm? What?" She didn't turn around, eyes darting around the area with curiosity. V.V. tensed by her side, regarding Taiga for her instead. She patted his head.

Fergus growled and yipped at the strange new Plotmons when they got close to him, glowering at them. He did not seem to want to be sociable with them as he walked by Taiga's side, and their constant playing brought them far too close to him.

Sasha shook his head at them, helping his partner adjust Keren when she began to slip again. Even though she had a tight grip on Niko, he had to adjust her sometimes so she wouldn't fall and drag him down as well.

Taiga pursed his lips again, watching her a moment. So strangely close to that little dragon... He wondered how that was. "How did you get here in this world? We got here because Mirei and her wendigo uncles did a thing and the Digivices responded? So how did you get here?"

Ivy glowered daggers at him, yipping right back. Rue ignored him entirely, leaping on Ivy's back and thoroughly distracting her. They went back to their game, leaving Mirei shaking her head.

Rina tilted her head and reached into her pocket. She flashed it at him. "I got one after you guys left. I found it on the counter. I thought Marcus and Kristy forgot to put their toys away. When I picked it up, poof!" She waved her hands and pocketed the device again. "I was here."

Taiga blinked in confusion at her for a moment. The expression on his face changed to some fusion of a frown and a pout as he looked at her. "That's not all of it." He stated.

Rina looked back and blinked at him, genuinely puzzled. "You didn't ask for everything," she pointed out with a frown of her own. "I keep telling you in class, Taiga. You need to ask thorough questions if you want thorough answers." V.V. made a low, amused noise and prodded her in the leg, as if in disbelief. She swatted him on the nose.

Taiga continued that weird pout-frown hybrid expression. He was aware of some sniggering in the group and decided to at least play the fool to keep spirits high, after all that had happened. "Yeah, but every time I ask you something you're always vague! Even when the question was thorough! I think you just like not answering me on purpose."

Rina blinked "Well if you can think that far ahead you should be able to figure out what the rest of the answer is, right?" She grinned. "If you really wanna know, you should just ask more questions and look more stuff up. But!" She offered Niko a wink. "It's fun to see you screw up your face when you're confused."

Niko tried to enjoy it, but Keren hugging against his back and mumbling of onii-chans again sent him off his normal equilibrium again just as he began to gain a teasing smile also. His face flushed when there were snickers over that. Stupid, stupid emotions…

Taiga shook his head again, still pouting until a thought hit him. "But... Wait. Why was that thing in your house? I mean... Well..." The implications started racing through his head about this. "Was that tamagatchi even meant for you?"

Rina blinked in surprise. "Hmm... I dunno! I didn't think about it too much." She waved a hand. "Like I said, I thought the kids forgot so I was gonna put it in Marcus' room. It glowed and stuff before I could drop it." She grinned. "probably good I got it. Those two wouldn't be okay here."

"Even if it wasn't for you..." Mirei looked over. "It still responded to you, and you have a partner here. So..." She wasn't quite sure how to conclude that.

"Yeah... It would probably suck if it belonged to one of them, anyway." Taiga admitted. "And plus... Well, Mirei made it sould like a big fu- freaking deal for us to get our tamagatchies. If they can respond to just anyone, why would we have needed to be bothered?"

Rina hefted the bags a little higher. "If everyone could be a soldier in an army, the training wouldn't seem as bad to an outsider. Same with artists or carpenters and stuff. So it's probably more like that and the big deal comes from what shape this place is in. And it ain't good."

Sayo, pushed the tiny little jar (her portable swear jar) discreetly back into her bag.

Taiga paused once more and gave Rina a curious look. "And how would you know what it's like for being a soldier?"

V.V. let out a soft, venomous hiss and Rina stopped walking entirely. Her expression swirled into thoughtfulness before she looked up at him. "Well," she began. "That would be 'cause-"

She was interrupted by the sound of an explosion and a great burst of shrapnel.


	12. The Dog's Loyalty

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Same warnings as before! We're back! Warning for blood and... possibly graphic violence? Maybe? Someone tell me.

The smell of blood was almost worse now than it was before, perhaps because it was scattered everywhere. The corpses being there, if only temporarily, were what made Mirei's stomach churn as they ran. She swallowed her fear again, though it was much harder this time. After all, blood was one reminder. Battle was another.

A Commandramon slammed into a nearby wall as they made their way closer, slumping and disappearing within the seconds it took to reach them. It wasn't as disturbing as the animal corpses her uncles had shown her how to break down, to use, but the sight was not something she wanted to keep looking at. She almost envied Keren right now, for resting through this. But she doubted the girl would be resting long.

Ivy made a hissing whine and they all saw Jijimon batting away monsters like toys. A Lilymon swung another enemy hard enough to make them roll close enough to see the children. Rina whistled and V.V dove for it. Mirei didn't see what happened to that one. She itched to go to Jijimon, but to leave the safety of the others was paramount to suicide. Could they really spring into this chaotic fight?

Taiga felt Mirei's hand tighten in his, which brought him out of his state of horror at seeing such things happen. He immediately picked the girl up and pressed her face into his neck so she wouldn't have to see this happening.

"I think we might have made a mistake..." Niko said, terror in his voice. "We might just want to get the hell out of here entirely!" Keren had woken up and was hiding her own face against his shoulder blade. Dolce, however, remained firmly unconscious.

"Yes. We should get you children out of here." Sashenka said. "But I will not abandon my home. We will get you all to safety and I will come back to fight as well."

"You and me both, pal!" Fergus added in. The little pup looked really rather eager to just charge on in and help.

Mirei squirmed at first, but eventually relaxed into it. She would try and cover his eyes if he didn't need them to see.

Rina looked around and pointed to an alley on the edge of the current mess. "We can try to go through that way." She exhaled softly. "Niko and Taiga, you two go first. You're carrying kids."

Sayo felt Yuugo shaking and reached for his hand, squeezing it. He didn't need to see this.

Falcor made a face. "I can help."

"No we can't," Artemis said with a grimace. "We just got thrown around like a bouncy ball. We're better off with the group." Ferbus glowered at her and got ignored for his trouble.

V.V. tugged at Rina's shorts and she managed a grin. He was staying, and she would stay with him. Ivy and Rue looked between Mirei and them and winced. Or at least Rue winced.

Niko nodded, before shrugging at Taiga. "You go first. Mirei's smaller." With Taiga and him, that meant she got preferential treatment. After a moment, Taiga nodded and raced out into the chaos with all three of the Plotmons by his side. He nearly tripped when a fireball slammed down in their path, taking with it a Drimogemon who had poked its head out of the ground. There was a mad cackle from somewhere else in the square as similar fireballs began falling from the sky and taking out fleeing Commandramons.

Taiga grimaced, tightening his hold on Mirei before running faster, barely making it to the alley way with the pups just behind him.

"That ol' burnin' man made things a lot tougher." Tyrone muttered, wincing. "I'd go out to try and get him if I wasn't still feeling lightheaded."

"He's too indiscriminate anyway," Rina muttered, stepping between Niko and a possible attack. "We'd need to blow him away or something." She hesitated, then glanced at Yuugo and Sayo. Niko had the presence of mind to be able to run. She had no idea how long those two would last. She nodded at them. "V.V."

The blue dragon moved into the fray. She wasn't sure this was a good idea, but he was going to go anyway or she would end up going like a fool. Her fingers curled into fists. This was not her idea of a good time at all. She glanced at the Monodramon by Sayo. "Can you keep them safe?"

Monodramon looked up at her with big, innocent eyes and looked at all of the assembled children and their partners. His gaze stopped on Sayo, his hero, before he looked back at Rina and, his gaze having shifted over into a determined expression, nodded. "I will."

Rina grinned at him. "Counting on you, buddy." She saluted Sayo. "Go go go!"

Sayo shot her a befuddled look, before doing as she was told, tugging Yuugo after her.

Rina kept her eyes out for V.V. "You too, Niko. Precious cargo alert!" Time to perk up, it was time to fight, wasn't it? Once everyone was safe, it was time to stop frowning!

Artemis stared at the girl for a moment, then shot a blast of water at an oncoming fireball so Falcor could streak past, following after.

Monodramon charged out, sticking close to Sayo and Yuugo along side Fergus. The four barely managed to make it to the ally way, where Taiga was waiting to pull them to safety and gently comfort both of them. Giant needles nearly as long as they were tall had been sprayed around everywhere at one point, nearly sticking all of the poor children if it hadn't been for Monodramon's quick movements, punching every single one of them away.

Sayo shivered a little. The Digimon weren't really paying attention to them yet, but they would be. They weren't stupid. She patted Monodramon's scales in thanks. He positively glowed with the praise.

"Jeez, glad I didn't follow after them just yet then." Niko muttered. "You following after I go, Rina?" He looked over at her for confirmation. She looked... Far too eager for this. It rather scared him for a moment.

Rina tilted her head to look at him. "Course!" she said with a smile. "I've got the supplies. I'll be careful Niko!" She turned her head to watch for V.V.'s small darting form in the match. He was actually hard to see. V.V. had gotten good. "Go, go!" she urged. "Your doggy wants to fight too."

Niko regarded her a moment more, before he felt Keren shudder with the force of containing a sob, and then burst forward, running as fast as he could. In retrospect, maybe putting her down and then running might have been a better idea. But it was too late now. There was a roar and searing heat over his head and he felt more than heard Keren's terrified whimpers. A frantic bark made itself heard as Sashenka spun overhead to divert the rest of the flames.

He almost made it to the 'safe zone', relatively speaking, before the ground cracked beneath his sneakers and caused him to trip. Niko lost his precarious grip on Keren entirely and she was sent tumbling over, crying out in pain. He landed on his stomach and coughed in pain. What was left of the pavement dug into his skin and he grunted.

"Niko!" Rina shouted from wherever she was. His glasses had also been knocked off in the fall, damn it. "Get up! It's coming, get up!"

What's coming? He wanted to look, but the pain in his neck and the shock in his system made him slow. But he felt the stomps of loud, heavy feet, heavier than any human or than the small Digimon that had clustered around them and carried them all the way from a forest on. Niko could feel it coming closer, though, heavy footsteps that shook the ground and made his body jump where it lay.

"Oh I see," said a bright voice, gruff but no less jovial. Somehow, the blase tone made it all the worse. "My poor Commandramon friends, they were telling the truth. Hello, little humans."

Niko made himself roll over and began to crawl back on his hands and knees. He regretted the turning over for multiple reasons. One, he was in too much pain to move very fast, and two, seeing his attacker only made him just want to collapse in a heap of limbs and wait for death.

Looking at him, at this great giant golden beetle with many arms, he seemed pretty funny. But there were too many sharp points in his hands, not to mention that he would easily dwarf two Nikos in height and probably four in width. Even from this distance, the shadow could eat him. The purple necklace chimed like bells as he stepped and in an instant, Niko was reminded of different bells.

Church bells, mourning bells, echoing over the falling snow.

Apples and cherries tucked under a threadbare jacket. His mother's fingers gentle in his hair one more time.

This rushed through Nikolai's mind in the span between one heartbeat and the next. This was death, this sound, these shadows, it was hunger and slow and sick and cold.

Then it was gone, courtesy of a snarl that sank teeth into bones as a pair of red boxing gloves crashed into the armored face, one after the other. Sashenka yelped in pain, but continued. Niko felt his jaw drop, but only for a moment when smaller, thinner arms, scooped him up and carried him the rest of the way to safety.

Rina put him and the bags on the ground with a grunt. "Lose a few rocks, Niko," she grunted, getting up and turning back to the fight.

Niko was still gaping. She had just carried him and the two duffel bags and that was all she had to say. What the _hell_ Rina. He had never seen her do that. He had never felt her do that. And he couldn't even say anything. She was tuning out everything now.

Before he could actually think, he saw the blue mass that was Sashenka fly up in an arc and hit the ground with a solid, heavy thump. He tried to scramble to his feet, the sound echoing in his head. "Sasha!'

Rina threw her arm out to stop him. "Stay back!"

"I can at least roll him out of there!" Niko wasn't sure why he _cared_ to be honest, but it was like an awful serious obligation that he wanted, need to fulfill. Like if he didn't look after the idiot, he was doomed. All things considered, that might be literal. The guy wanted to keep him safe and all of that. He could at least be a little concerned.

Rina gave another surprisingly strong yank. "Not letting you _die_ in the process, all right?" She pointed. "Besides, he's fine, ain't he?"

"Barely, I guess."

But he was. Fine, Mostly. Sashenka was still clinging to the ground. Crouched on all fours, he lunged and struck with a single fist, only to brushed aside like a fly. He hacked up spit.

"How interesting." The beetle, a Kongoumon, raised an arm and with a hefty curve of the shoulder, threw him off. "I forgot Child levels could be so stubborn."

"You just haven't kept enough of us alive," Fergus spat, nosing Sashenka. "You all right, man?"

"I… I've seen better days, I must admit." Sashenka shook himself. "Regardless, I can keep going."

"Don't have much of a choice," Fergus looked around. Half of their team was dead out at least, and he didn't trust those other two pups as far as he could throw them. They were just too carefree for his taste.

Sashenka scoffed. "We've never had much in the way of choices." Then he lunged forward,, opening his mouth wide. He clanged harmlessly into a single weapon, tossed aside and bleeding.

"Sasha, you idiot!" Fergus snapped, and the yell broke Niko almost out of his fresh attempt at running out of the way. Keren had been moved at this point, th other two supporting the weight of her trembling legs.

This also left most of them a sitting duck. Monodramon, however, leaped in front and bared his teeth at the beetle, who laughed.

"You're not much good here."

Sashenka interrupted that next sword swing with a bark and a flying tackle. Except, mid-lunge, his body started to glow. Niko almost fell over at the rush of power from his insides.

There was a flash of light and then a metallic ringing sound that echoed all throughout the chaotic scene. The combination of both were what made the fighting stop and all participants look, especially when the sound of a boat groaning filled the air.

A giant, blue furred husky-shiba inu hybrid strained against the giant golden beetle's arms as he tried to ram his forehead into the beetle's chest. He wore a collar with a pair of 'scarves' that seemed to end in almost hook-like, finger looking appendages. They were currently wrapped around Kongoumon's arms, trying to pry them open and pin them to his sides.

For what it was worth, Kongoumon didn't seem to be struck as dumb by this as his own combat forces. He couldn't afford it. He still blinked in mild surprise. "What?" He asked, incredulously. "What the frick-?"

The shiba husky that Sashenka had become opened his mouth then, pulling back slightly. He began to howl long and loud, almost obnoxiously so. As he did, a great wall of wind slammed into Kongoumon's front and began to make him slide back slightly before he could dig his feet in the dirt to catch himself.

" _Nice_ ," Rina breathed even as the others reflexively covered their ears. Her eyes glittered with delight. "Give 'em another push!"

Kongoumon stiffened and forced himself to recover, digging his feet in and lashing out with his many arms into the material of Sashenka's scarf. His weapons cut into the fabric to minor use and he ducked his head, crouching to try and escape the hold of the attack. And as he moved forward again, he seemed to be succeeding.

"Interesting," he crowed. "I approve of your tenacity!"

"I do not care for your approval!" Sashenka yelled back, the sound of the roaring wall of wind somehow amplifying it. "I want you out of my hometown!" With that, with the space given, he dashed forward and lifted his still glove covered front paws - as he was a quadraped now, somehow shifting to that stance as he grew bigger - and brought the huge claws that had formed in his metamorphosis down to slash at the giant golden bug.

To give him some credit, Kongoumon managed to fend him off well, even as tied up as he was. Sasha was still landing some blows however, and gouges and scrapes were appearing on the Bagra sergeant's armor.

Kongoumon grunted and laughed. "I am one of many," he crowed, digging his feet now into the ground. He leaned and began to rise, making an effort to carry Sashenka with him. "I am one of thousands. You do nothing but slow your own futile demise, as this island pleasures itself to do!"

With one of his few free arms, he threw, weapon aimed for one of Sashenka's eyes. It missed, seemingly knocked aside.

"You have no right to attack us, to make our land yours!" Sasha roared back. His claws began to bear down again, aiming to pierce, aiming to maim. Something had changed about his gentle demeanor from before, as a mere pup. This wasn't a pup anymore. This was an angry, old attack dog that had a reason to bear its fangs. Niko didn't know how to take it, for all of Rina's cheers. "We'll beat you back! We'll beat every single one of you back! This land was perfect and peaceful before you attacked us!"

"Oh, to be young and naive," crooned the beetle. "If it was that easy you wouldn't need a human, would you? You've signed your own death warrant!" He made to shove Sashenka away. "Glory to our commander," he whispered. "Glory to a better future, on the broken backs of the non-believers!" He forced himself forward, wincing at the blows easily hitting his front, but he pushed on and thrust one Vajra right towards Sashenka's stomach.

Sashenka howled in agony and Niko looked away before he could stop himself, not wanting to see whatever bloody sight awaited him. This idea was promptly averted by Taiga screaming, "Rina, what are you _doing_ " at the top of his lungs, a shout that was rather common for the two of them.

This time however, it really was relevant, especially since said Rina was running towards the fight. Niko wasn't even sure if it was actually running and more like teleporting though, because he barely managed to blink and her foot had solidly connected with the side of the ugly beetle's head. He careened in Sashenka's grip only not going flying apparently by the blue dog's sheer force of will.

"Oh no _you don't_ ," he snapped. "You won't escape!" He opened his mouth and released a swirl of wind from his mouth, a compressed tornado that seemed to be made of flying steel rather than sharp gusts of air.

Niko was pretty certain the screams the enemy made would haunt his nightmares for the rest of his life.

Then, they went suddenly silent. Niko opened his eyes to see a sharp ice shard sticking out of the monster's eye. It made a strange, croaking laugh-

" _Soft."_

\- and exploded.

For a minute, they were all silent and still. Then something flew past them into a building and they had to turn around.

"We need to keep goin', brats." Tyrone said, just quiet enough for them to think he was being nice. "Someone probably saw that."

Niko, for the first time in his life, did not want to argue.

Mirei returned her hand to gripping Taiga's sweater, feeling him shaking beneath her. At a loss, she patted the side of his neck.

It only made him tremble harder.

* * *

Niko remembered meeting Rina.

It was three months after meeting Taiga, and five months after his dad's remarriage. By then, Taiga had gone from someone who curled on himself on the sofa, to draping himself over one, who he had shown how to eat the Japanese food that he wasn't quite good with. It was better than before than not having food, but Niko's stomach had not felt filled all the same.

He remembered her in too-big clothes, with a hood over her face that covered a strange pattern of stitches on her left cheek, red eyes that avoided looking at any person for more than a few seconds. Her bony fingers had gripped a pencil and she had scribbled intently, mathematics that caught his father's fascinated eye in a way that Niko remembered hating more then than he did now.

He remembered Taiga reaching to touch her shoulder, a rare display of active curiosity. She didn't respond at first until he actually looked annoyed. Then she looked up at him and just stared. From behind him, Niko could distinctly remember now, that pair of eyes, blood-red with a strange slit in each pupil, pure white.

Taiga went white as chalk and pulled away. It was worse than being rejected. He retreated behind Niko and the girl continued to stare.

Then, almost mechanically, she had turned back to her scribbling.

Niko remembered summoning up all of his bravado and going up to her to see her scribbling. The second he touched the paper however, her free hand lashed out, too fast for human hands.

When he could see again, when he could think again, a piece of a window pane was in one arm, just enough to bleed and he was dangling from a half-shattered window. And Taiga was on top of Rina, lunging and screaming, but uselessly dangling with jerking feet as she lifted him up with a foot and the papers were turning red-

"Niko! Niko, wake up!"

Niko reached out to grab whoever was talking by reflex, dream throes tight-

And Rina gave his hand a gentle squeeze with both hands. Niko saw the building take dark shape before him. Night had fallen while he'd dozed off. and the stars in the sky were seemingly small.

"Sorry," she said softly, and he felt something groan in his lap. "Jijimon's found us. Skirmish's over."

"Oh..." Niko rubbed his eyes and let her help him up. "Thanks..."

For a moment he thought he saw _those eyes_ but a single blink took that image away. "Course!" Rina pulled away and let him walk, bouncing on her heels. "Hopefully won't take long, I'm tired!"

"Yeah..."

Rina smiled at him. "You still half asleep, Niko?"

He grunted at her. "Not all of us instantly wake up Rina."

She giggled. "Your excuse."

"Yeah yeah..." Niko stuffed his hands in his pockets, for lack of something else to do with one of them. Sashenka tried not to droop against him still. "Rina? How'd we meet?"

Rina paused in curiosity. "You don't remember?"

"Not well." _I do now._ "Do you?"

Rina nodded. "Yep yep! I ignored you, you guys were weird. We got into a fight. Nothing big."

Niko opened his mouth to correct her and then, for some reason, he stopped. A strange revulsion coiled in his gut.

"Why?" she asked, turning back to smile at him. And now he definitely wasn't imagining things.

"No reason," Niko said quickly. "Just slept funny. Let's get going before Taiga kidnaps the _yuki-musume_ somehow."

Rina giggled. "She has a name, you know."

"Well, I like calling her that!" The knot in his chest was gone and then, soon enough, so was the dream. It was like it hadn't even happened. His skin didn't stop crawling though, not until they reached the fire.

After a couple of minutes of stumbling over small piles of glass and debris, the two of them were in the sitting area, watching the others curled up around an open fire. Jijimon stood there, paw cane in hand. There was blood on his clothing and the tips of each claw. Niko pointedly looked away from it. He wasn't really comforted by the fact that Mirei was doing the same, staring deeply into the fire. Jijimon's head tilts in their direction.

"There you are. Finally. Won't be staying long." Jijimon tapped his cane against the floor.

Anger and exhaustion swelled up in Niko's stomach pit at each sharp, cursed word. Like they hadn't just gone out and nearly died too. If he hadn't been for Sashenka getting powerful as he had-

_-and killing that guy-_

They all would be gone. And then where would this island be? Screwed, that's where!

Niko couldn't get any of this out of his mouth, though, so he settled for sending these angry messages at Jijimon with his eyes.

"Don't come outside tomorrow," he said, fixing them all with a stern look through his mop of hair. "Lilymon will bring you ingredients and food and supplies. For now, get some rest. Understood?"

There were scattered nods about the room.

Jijimon let out a pleased huff. "Well, good you can sometimes follow directions." He turned to make his way out , only to end up with a Mirei on him for the second time that day. They watched her shake in his grip and Taiga looked away, envy heavy in his gut as he hugged her back.

"Good night, lass," he whispered, and left them behind.

She watched him go and they were left in silence.

"We should sleep," Sayo offered softly, to break the silence. "I can stay awake a little longer."

"I'll stay up too then." Niko stretched. "You guys let me pass out."

Taiga elbowed him with a mocking grin. "Charmer."

Niko swatted his head. "Shut it bro."

Yuugo laughed outright and the fire brought light back to his face. "Good luck with that."

Even Keren, whose eyes had not gone down to a normal size since before he had fallen asleep, Niko realized, managed a giggle.

Taiga went over and took Mirei's small hand. She was still staring out the broken window. "C'mon," he finally said when she looked up. "Let's get some sleep."

She stared at him for a moment more, then nodded, looking down.

"He'll be okay," he tried to say. "He's a pretty tough guy."

She nodded again and let her lead him from the door.

Taiga would have to count that as a victory.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And... we live! With a brand new, never before seen chapter. How are you guys? Welcome back! Onix poked his head to help out with the fight scene. What say you, buddy?
> 
> Onix: I regret nothing.
> 
> Of course you don't. And neither do I clearly. Anyway thanks for your help and please leave a review down in the box-thingy. It's really good for us!


	13. You're Falling to Pieces Every Time

It wasn't often Tyrone felt sympathy for others (mainly because so few gave any to him, which only led to the cycle continuing in its viciousness) but there had been something a little heartwrenching about seeing the human children he'd come to actually like for not treating him as merely an annoyance like so many did, quietly settling down in such a subdued manner. He supposed he could understand - this was their first, true exposure for what life in the Digital World was like, especially now. It made him feel weird about how normal it had all  _felt_  in comparison to how it affected them. Then again, he'd lived with this his whole life, the full year of it. It was all he knew, and he was being trained as a warrior. Besides almost dying, he wasn't shaken by the experience himself.

Well, there was one other that wasn't shaken, which made him glance at her suspiciously as she picked a spot with her partner, the odd Veemon V.V. Old envy burned in his heart when he watched the dragon conk out (with so much ease too!) but he pushed that out of his mind in favor of other things, like the kids' upcoming training regimen. Thoughts like wondering why  _he_  had been accepted by Falcor's clique when Tyrone himself had never been despite being odd and suspicious, with how he had come out of nowhere and did that random evolving thing for no reason at some points didn't seem to bother them, but Tyrone being himself did. Go figure.

Granted, he knew he wasn't the most pleasant person to be around, he was self-aware enough for that, but he wasn't sure he deserved basically being ostracized. At least the humans were changing that now. Or at least tolerating them.

He pushed the thoughts from his mind again as he began to plan, noting where all of the kids were choosing to lay down now. Taiga didn't stray far from the bed Mirei had been given (again), while Niko somehow found Keren near him in the middle of the room. Sayo and Yuugo were sharing a sleeping space as well. Rina was the only odd one out, but Tyrone got the feeling the strange, always seeming to smile girl was wanting some space for the moment. Of course, all their partners stuck near them, but only Niko seemed uncomfortable in Sashenka's presence. The only odd duck out was the Monodramon who had attached itself to Sayo in its adoration of her, but honestly it took everything Tyrone had to not wish the Monodramon would just leave. He didn't want to be like  _them_  towards  _him_  with the little guy, being freshly purified from whatever corruption the Bagra Army had over him, but still. It was hard to face your would-be killer in casual situations without any sort of feelings.

After a moment, Tyrone got up from his spot leaning against the wall of Jijimon's hut and left the building quietly. The night was young and he had lots of things he needed to prepare for. He was feeling oddly jittery, the idea he'd be able to do for other people what the old lion had done for him and Falcor sending an eagerness through him he usually felt only for his own training. As sorry as he felt for the kids, to keep from what happened that day from happening again they all had to be on his level and beyond. He wasn't about to get them killed, nor was he gonna get in that situation again himself. They all needed to be prepared.

Time passed and the night grew wan. Eventually, one pair made their way out into the streets. Well, to be precise, it was a triad. Sayo held Monodramon's hand as she left their shelter, observing the city around her. Artemis next to her was yawning hugely, making a hilariously undignified expression. Her antenna bounced as she moved around at Sayo's other side.

"You can go back to sleep if you want, Miss Artemis," Sayo told her soberly. "Monodramon and I will be fine."

" _Artemis_ ," corrected the rabbit, wincing and rubbing her still somewhat swollen cheeks. Tyrone wasn't the only one still bearing reminders from the day before. "Just my name. And no. You don't know where you are and he doesn't know where he is. Let's just go back to bed."

Sayo smiled, an expression that would remind many people of a dismissal bell. "Mm... I'm sorry. I'm just not very tired."

Artemis grunted and did not stop this. As they walked, Sayo caught sight of Tyrone. Her smile widened ever so slightly. "Good morning, mister Tyrone. Did you sleep at all?"

Tyrone had been leaning on his club, having been staring out at something. Keeping watch, most likely, seeing if the army that had been beaten back and retreated were going to send in smaller shadow units to cause trouble. Well, he would be, if his eyes weren't fighting to stay open. Either from boredom or all the activity and nearly dying the day before was finally catching up to him. Sayo speaking up caused his eyes to snap open and look over at her. He stared for a moment, taking in her, Artemis and the yawning, far too happy looking Monodramon before snorting.

"Just Tyrone." He said. "I ain't no Mister. Makes me feel old, and I ain't even as old as Impmon." Tyrone muttered a moment, smacking his own face for a moment, before answering Sayo's question. "I slept, a little. Too wired still to get much. So I decided to be useful elsewhere. If I get a couple energy lemons for later it won't matter anyway." He turned to face her, looking them over once more. "What are ya'll doing awake so early, anyway? Thought ya'd wanna sleep for a while longer after all that excitement."

Sayo tilted her head. "Sounds like coffee," she murmured. "I don't want you to train us and then hurt yourself. That's no good." She looked him down with a surprisingly critical weight for someone of her age and then back up to his face. "I slept enough," she said with another smile, this one holding a small weight of its own. "But I woke up and started having strange thoughts. So I figured if I could curl up and think bad things about things I can't control, I could just find something I could. And I cook papa's breakfast whenever he comes home from night shifts so here I am!"

This was usually how Sayo dealt with discomfort, do something indirect to deal with it. Usually it was to run errands. Sometimes it was to crawl into her brother's bunk. Crying never worked for her, however, she knew this. And she was no good to Yuugo now either. She would just be a jittery mess when he needed his sleep too.

Tyrone squinted at the girl for a moment, weighing her words in his mind. He wasn't one to judge, when he had bad thoughts or trouble sleeping he would decide to make it an early day as well. Get some good training in and work his thoughts out by working his body back to tiredness. Her concern, however, was touching. It took everything he had to keep his face schooled in a thin veneer of annoyance with life, like he usually had. "Don't know what coffee is," He said, "but it don't sound good for ya. Nah, energy lemons are all natural and vitalize you if ya need to keep yer thoughts going or to get the boost needed to get some more work done." He couldn't say anything about not hurting himself. He made a fool of himself yesterday, letting himself get injured so bad. He still wasn't up to fighting Adult levels still, it seemed. He was letting the old lion down there.

Monodramon let out another yawn, before looking at Sayo with such adoration Tyrone almost wanted to puke a rainbow. This had really been the creature that almost killed him? "I wanna help cook!" He declared. Then he drooped slightly. "I don't know what 'cook' is, though..."

"Coffee used to be natural too," Sayo replied with a tilt of her head. "Relying on things like that can always cause damage though. Even tea, and I drink that sometimes." She beamed at Monodramon, moving her hand to pat his head. "I'll show you. It's how we get the food you had yesterday. We have to prepare the materials and then heat or cool them. You're smart, so we'll be able to do it together.

Artemis glanced at Tyrone and arched an eyebrow. She felt like puking a rainbow as well. Why did she have a partner who was such a softie one minute and perfectly capable of cutting someone with a comment the next? Not to mention that really large, kinda dangerous bowie knife was sitting in the girl's bag, waiting to be used. Along with some other weird stuff. She swore she saw the damn thing move.

Tyrone stood there blinking a moment before shrugging helplessly at Artemis. He didn't know. He ultimately didn't care, really. It was cutting, but what was he to say to someone who made up their mind? The only thing would be to have her eat one to see it, and he wasn't about to find out what a tiny human hopped up on energy lemons was like. He got the feeling it would be like feeding a Baby level some. Meaning, completely destroyed house and downtown mayhem. They didn't need more destroyed property.

"If cookin' be what ya wanna do," Tyrone began, tapping his club on the ground. If she was that intent on it, doing something with her time until training, then he would see too it she was occupied. She was his pupil now, he supposed. "You can go to Meramon's restaurant. He's understaffed and might appreciate the help."

Monodramon looked up at Sayo with big, sparkling eyes. "Really?" He  _squeaked_. Tyrone felt the urge to vomit Neapolitan sherbert once again. "We can? You can? We can do the cook thing and make good food like yesterday?"

Artemis resisted the urge to gag and throw up crackers even though she hadn't had any yet today. "Yeah. We were heading there now. He's always understaffed because he keeps scaring away the plants and sometimes overcooks the meats by accident."

Sayo tilted her head and patted Monodramon once more. "We're gonna make good food together, okay? My Papa loves my breakfast. This will just be a lot bigger." She flashed Tyrone a grateful smile and waved. "See you later!" She let Artemis lead her away, tugging on Monodramon once more.

Artemis grunted. The saccharine needed to stop.

Tyrone watched the trio leave, giving a simple wave. He stood there a few moments more, thinking over the conversation. Then he snorted. That girl was one of those types, eh? Both utterly adorable, kind and yet jumped to conclusions based on what she knew. Silly thing. He hoped it wouldn't bite her in the ass one day.

Still, that was one child pupil down. He was going to have to wake up the others now. He knew the perfect way to do so, even if he felt slightly bad for it. He just had to find a gong...

* * *

Yuugo stirred, responding more to the slight chill on his side than the warmth that the lion cub was gleefully providing by sleeping like a fur blanket. The chill, the lack of his best friend near him almost sent him into an immediate panic. He resisted based on sheer muscle memory and the soreness in his arms. Still, he opened his eyes to a peaceful looking house and Sayo's bag sitting next to him, held closed by its weary looking belt loop thing. It had seen better days.

Seeing that Artemis and that weird Monodramon too were gone helped him remember that he needed to breathe. She wasn't by herself. Good. Okay. That could be dealt with. At least one of them was supposed to protect her. She couldn't be in that bad of danger then. They would have heard it. Right?

Probably, but what they heard right now was a very loud crash. And that woke up everyone else. The wake-up included a whole lot of swearing, some Digimon jumping up in a defensive position, Falcor snoring louder, and-

Sheer overkill on ice bullets flying towards the door and fully intending to impale who made that sound.

Yuugo tried to control his racing heart at the sight and winced in appreciation. He had to pray his mother never got a hold of that one.

There was the sound of metal being pierced as the one who created the sound used the very thing as a shield. Tyrone eyed the gong he'd used to block Mirei's kneejerk reaction and turned it around, seeing just how long the ice 'bullets' were. He snorted a moment later, impressed, and tossed the thing outside of the room.

"Well, glad to see most of ya are up now." He grumbled, moving into the room. "It's time to train."

"It's still  _dark out_ ," Niko complained, clutching his chest as his heart continued to race. Sashenka, like most of the other Digimon, slowly stood down.

"Yeah, you got some cool hours before the sun comes up fully." Tyrone  _grinned_  - it wasn't a nice expression. It showed far too much teeth. It reminded Niko more of when an ape 'smiled'. It was supposed to be  _threatening_. "And ya ain't gonna work less when it does. Ya lumps need a good exercise."

Falcor only snored louder in response, as if to consciously defy his friend. Yuugo wouldn't be surprised if that was actually what was happening. He gently shook the cub and only got another snore. He relished in a little training, after yesterday they definitely needed it, but he needed to know where Sayo was, and this was probably unproductive. Sadistically entertaining, but unproductive.

Mirei slowly lowered from her defensive position on the mattress, half knelt and likely fully prepared to have suplexed him over her head if she had to. "Okay..." She did not sound convinced.

V.V. rubbed his eyes. "I think we're going to need something better than a gong." He wasn't looking at Falcor, however. Rina next to him, seemed to still be blissfully unconscious. Seemed to be. He sniffed at her neck in concern. Her face had an expression that was anything but blissful, but seeing as none of the others were close enough, he said nothing about it.

Yuugo glanced at Keren.  _More like next time we need a gentler wake-up... ouch._

Keren's eyes were wide as saucers as she kept a hard grip on Niko's shirt, staring up at Tyrone and still breathing hard. Tyrone hid a wince behind a scowl - there were far too many timid people there that he genuinely didn't mean to scare, but he knew that he'd have to break them of this terror response at some point. It just wasn't going to feel good doing it to these poor, scared little human children.

"I'd get smellin' salts but that would require bothering Angemon." Tyrone grunted in reply, shrugging at V.V. "Just do that evolving thing you do and carry her along. If the little purple princess had that reaction to a gong, I don't want to get my neck broken waking that one up."

"R-Rina isn't like that." Taiga managed, still getting over his terror over everything. He slowly reached up to gently pat Mirei on the shoulders, taking one of her hands into his to try and calm her down. Mirei very slowly lowered her hands so Taiga could fully take one. The look in her eyes of utter wild terror and fury spoke volumes. Ivy had her teeth bared, but Rue knocked her head with a single paw, shaking her head.

"Oh? All that strength and knowledge about combat situations comin' from  _nowhere_ , then?" Tyrone huffed at the boy. Despite obviously knowing her, he and the other boy that knew her didn't seem to  _know her_. He knew a warrior when he saw one, it was the way a person carried themselves. Despite trying to mask it, that leaf colored haired girl obviously was one; she knew how to position herself to react to any given situation and usually had a hand near obviously concealed weapons. And good ones at that, if she could move so much and have 'em not even  _clank._  "I ain't in the business for underestimating anyone no more. Anyway, grab what ya got, we're going out to learn ya some things and turn yer flabby noodle bodies into something less flabby."

"We aren't eating first, at least?" Niko asked, slowly standing up and helping Keren do the same. She hugged Dolce against her, who was giving Tyrone a frown.

Tyrone, himself, merely  _grinned_  again. "Nah. If ya do, I guarantee ya that you'll throw it back up. We'll get it after."

Yuugo made himself get up, lifting Falcor a little. Said lion cub just continued to snore. Yuugo sweatdropped. "Uhm," he began, looking up at Tyrone. "Do you know where Sayo is? And should I try waking up him?" HE had no way to counter what the goblin was talking about, but then, that wasn't his friend. Sayo was his friend.

"Probably won't work," V.V deadpanned. "Sorry, Tyrone, but that will just make her less likely to wake up." So he drew his hands back, like a snake coiling to strike-

And promptly tickled Rina under her armpits. RIna burst out laughing, eyes opening wide. The sound, to Tyrone, rang a little hollow. She eventually settled after a half a minute or so., wiping tears from her eyes. Her eyes had a strange, muddy color to them at first until she beamed at Tyrone. "We training?"

"Yap." V.V. scoffed. "He wanted me to carry you."

"Then I'd miss out the fun!"

Tyrone grunted at both V.V. and Rina, and ignored Mirei's silent terror and fury. It was better to not feed that, let the others calm her down. He wasn't good at reassurance and he doubted Mirei wanted that from him right now anyway.

At most, he could offer Yuugo a shrug. He wasn't gonna push Meramon. He fed them all. He reached into a bag at his side they only noticed him to have after he reached into it. He walked close to Yuugo and pulled large, black fish that seemed to be the size of the boy's arm. He waved it close to Falcor's nose and smirked at seeing the cub's nose to work at the scent of it. When Falcor's eyes began to open along with his mouth, he smacked the lion right on the head with it.

"Ya wake up and help me give them the morning exercises, ya lump, I'll give ya the Black Digi Trout." Tyrone said, stuffing the fish right back into the bag.

Falcor whined and wriggled himself from Yuugo's grasp. " _Finneeeeeee_." He hopped to his paws and trotted to the door. "Why do you have that anyway? Did you nick it from Meramon? He'll be mad."

"Where do ya think Meramon gets his fish?" Tyrone asked in return. Falcor stared at him for a moment. " _Me_ , ya lump." Tyrone grumbled, before looking over at Rina.

Rina beamed at Tyrone. "G'morning! What we doing?"

" _Everything._ " The goblin replied ominously. Rina only looked  _more_  excited, even if Tyrone got the feeling she was merely putting on airs.

Yuugo stretched a bit, eyes starting to narrow. Worry tickled his throat. Tyrone hadn't answered his question so maybe he didn't know. But he probably did. A teacher secretly could find any student. But he decided not to repeat himself and went to Keren. "It's okay," he said. "We just have to get used to waking up early, that's all."

Keren, simply put, did not look convinced.

* * *

An ungodly amount of time later (the sun being up was the only good indicator of time), all the children but two were collapsed by a little beach area alongside Railroad Plains. The exceptions, obviously, were Rina and little Mirei. The former was cheerfully depositing her two unconscious best friends on the ground, and Mirei, true to child form, had wandered into the water, looking for non-sentient mons and slowing her breathing from the morning exercises. The Digimon themselves were not much better than their humans. Falcor was actually asleep, but then, he had been asleep since the last section of jogging had started, forcing poor Yuugo to carry him the rest of the way. The scariest thing was:  _the boy managed to do it_. He was feeling the effects of that now and was happily laying on the cool earth and feeling the breeze on his sweat drenched hair.

So, for now, most of them were resting, even as a little triad made their way over withcomically large food trays over their heads.

Rina immediately turned around at the delightful smell and shouted with delight. " _Food!_  Guys, wake up! Brunch!"

There was, as to be expected, a cacophony of groans from human and Digimon alike. Ivy and Rue just flopped deeper into the sand, not even hungry. Mirei picked up a shell with a puzzled frown.

Yuugo however, brightened at who was carrying it, and waved at Sayo. Sayo, carrying more food than should be possible for her tiny frame, waved back.

"Rina..." Taiga managed to say, somewhat still out of it even as he began to wake up due to her loudness. Niko was still out cold. "Please don't yell... My head's hurting from your foot..."

"Shoulda dodged it, ya lump." Tyrone snorted. "She even made it slow enough for ya too. She  _intended_  for ya too. She was merely showin' ya how to do it but ya stood there like a Moosemon in a spotlight." Taiga merely muttered something in response. Tyrone grumbled something back and flicked his fishing line back into the water after taking his catch off the hook - another Black Digi Trout. Good food, plus it would earn some good Bit when he sold it to Meramon later.

"I welcome food." Dolce muttered, exhaustion completely overtaking her usual deadpan. She had was flopped over on her side next to Keren. The poor girl was wheezing and seemed very frustrated with how tuckered out she was. She'd only done pushups and crunches, as opposed to being taught to fight like Taiga and Niko had been, as they were physically stronger and more used to exercise than her or Yuugo. Dolce didn't even try to move, however, as she continued, "Anything to get away from that  _slave driver_  for a moment..."

"I was being nice," Rina agreed. "Most people won't let you dodge." She leaped up to help grab the food from Sayo and her little helpers. "Come on or I'll eat your shares too!" As she got closer, she paused, actually paused. "Where did you find those clothes?" She was kind of jealous.

Yuugo joined her and blinked. Then he turned bright pink."Uhm."

Sayo, aside from her hat, sure wasn't dressed in her clothes from this morning. Instead if was a white undershirt with a black sleeveless one on top and a black skirt that reached her knees and white nylons.

"Why do you look like a waitress?" Yuugo finally blurted out. That looked like something his mother used to wear when she did every part-time job ever! There were pictures!

Sayo, not being his mother, only blinked. "Meramon said I needed to wash my clothes. These ones fit"

Mirei, hearing this, looked down at her clothes, which looked a little similar. Did she dress like that?

V.V only shrugged at the weirdness and went to scratch the food.

Rina scrutinized her up and down and then patted Sayo on the hat. "Cute!" Then she stole the platter on the rabbit's head with a single greedy swipe. Artemis seemed only too happy to let it go.

"You eat my share and I'll hate you forever, Rina..." Taiga slowly stood up, holding his head. He walked over, glaring at his cheekily smiling friend. He took his own share and Niko's, to wait for him to wake up. Which he was starting to do, murmuring his own pain.

Keren slowly began to get up as well, face still red but her breathing slowing. Dolce climbed to her feet as well, muttering in distaste at having to move but food being there driving her to her tiny feet. Yuugo moved to help her, sympathy in his face. None of them were used to this much work except for Rina, apparently. And of course Sayo despite likely running around File CITY the entire day like they had been, was only sweating a little from the heat. Hmph.

Keren muttered her thanks, her blush hidden by her overexerted complexion and picked Dolce up. She began to walk over to Rina to take her own food, going slow due to how tired she was and because she wanted Yuugo to be able to keep pace. It would only be polite. Yuugo smiled and did so, leading her to sit down again. Once he was sure Keren could remain upright, he moved to stretch a little, which he noticed Rina was doing. He didn't want his muscles to hurt more than they already were.

Fergus and Sashenka remained out of it. Tyrone merely pulled in another catch, himself, seemingly uninterested in what was going on behind him for the moment. He was planning his own lunch, now that everyone was getting theirs.

Falcor took that moment to snatch Tyrone's other fish, despite having supposedly been asleep seconds before. "Ya promised," he chirped, running away with it before the goblin could stop him.

Tyrone scowled at his friend but let him have it, muttering. Yeah, he'd promised and he'd already caught some more trout anyway. Having one taken by Falcor wouldn't mean much for his sales, especially since he was already getting another bite.

Rina stuck out her tongue. "You won't," she chirped. "But it got you to wake up, didn't it?" Honestly, she could not have hit them that hard. Head blows just naturally hurt more because your brain wasn't supposed to rattle about in its comfy skull container. She hadn't even given them concussions... Honestly, they needed to learn how to dodge properly if they didn't want to feel like this again.

Sayo smiled a bit at Taiga. "It's okay. I made plenty. Monodramon can get more too if you need it."

"You don't know, I might," Taiga almost wanted to pout but knew that wouldn't help his case. He just took the food back to Niko, Fergus and Sashenka before Rina tried to steal theirs.

Monodramon preened. "I can! And be back here before you know it!"

"You wouldn't be able to have my hugs anymore if you did," Rina said, preening a little and handing Keren hers when she got close. "Neh, Sayocchi~ Have any water bottles? I think these guys sweat out all their fluids!"

Sayo nodded and Artemis gave her a look of mild amusement before pulling them out of a pouch on the girl's back. Of course, when she did so, somehow, an entire case of water came out of the pouch. Sayo blinked. "When'd that much get there?"

"While you were changing," the rabbit replied, ripping the case open and throwing four at Rina. Semehow, the girl caught all of them with her fingers. She didn't even want to understand.

Sayo hadn't seemed to notice, too busy smiling sweetly at Monodramon. See had that little mon wrapped around her finger.

Mirei wandered back onto the sand, looking at the food with a finger over her mouth. She blinked at it, especially when Sayo handed her two small pieces of wood. Oh... what were these? She tilted her head to look at Taiga, blinking in curiosity.

"Ah." Taiga blinked at Mirei's inquisitive look. He took his own sticks and held one of them between his index and middle fingers and curled his thumb around the other. He clicked them together and gave her a smile. "Chopsticks. They're an important tool and eating utensil. Have you never used them before?"

Considering everyone's first meeting with this girl was at the camp, which was near a heavily wooded area, and she had been with men who dressed in animal furs and tribal masks, Taiga supposed that would make sense if Mirei didn't know how to use chopsticks. If her wendigo uncles were as misantropic as he was starting to assume they were, then it was likely the only eating utensils she'd had were her fingers and maybe a knife. Poor girl. He'd teach her to use these if that was the case. He could already tell Fergus was a lost cause. As soon as he set down the pups bowl, his face was already in it, scarfing down every morsel.

Mirei shook her head, watching him and mimicking with her smaller fingers. "No. We had to hunt a lot. It didn't leave much space for... that." Even in the castle, it had just been a knife and fork, and that was so long ago she could at most remember being scolded for not using utensils by her mother. Mirei looked at her hands, still twitching her fingers, in an attempt not to cry. Then, when she was sure, she took the bowl and the chopsticks, mimicking the older boy's movements.

Keren, meanwhile, looked at her sticks with no small amount of dread. Dolce looked at her curiously, wondering why two little sticks were making her young human wear that expression on her face. She became even more curious when Keren, for some reason, settled down further away from everyone and turned her back to them. She understood almost immediately when Keren began to struggle to use them. Considering what Taiga said about them being an eating utensil, Dolce got the feeling Keren somehow had as much experience as Mirei apparently did in using them, i.e., not at all.

Niko took his food and water as well, handing Sashenka a bowl as he blinked sleep from his eyes. The shiba ate with far more grace than Fergus did, though he still didn't use any utensils what so ever as well and just stuck his face in. Boxing gloves tended to get in the way of tool use. Niko was still bleary as he looked over at Rina oddly. "What did you just call her?" He asked, referring to the strange honorific the older girl had referred to Sayo by.

Sayo hadn't even reacted to said nickname, too busy nearly glowing with joy at them eating her food. Artemis briefly considered barfing, but she was too tired, and thus flopped to the ground without any elegance whatsoever and promptly went to sleep. Her antenna was soon twitching about like a dog's paws. Sayo beamed at the now peaceful rabbit, before carrying a bowl over to Tyrone. "I made you some too!" she said, unflappable enthusiasm not even waning at the sight of him fishing and ignoring her. He would eventually learn, as all of them would, that if Sayo was anything, it was helpful, even by force. It was all that magical girl anime she watched with her brother. It really was.

Tyrone twisted around to look at Sayo, surprise on his face. He blinked in absolute astonishment, looking at the bowl of offered food - a tempora bowl with rice and curry sauce, something commonly made in Meramon's restaurant - then up to Sayo's expectant face.

"O-oh. Thank you." He finally said, the quietest the Digimon among them had ever heard him. Genuinely grateful, too. In Tyrone's experience, it was the only time he was offered free food instead of having to buy it or make it himself. He took the bowl gently and dug a large, finely carved spoon out of another bag of his.

"Sayocchi?" Rina blinked at Niko and shrugged. "I thought it was cute." She took another great slurp. "I don't think regular honorifics suit her. So I decided on that. It's okay, right?"

Sayo tilted her head and then looked down. Her face was a gentle pink. "Well... sure, I don't mind..." She busied herself with more bowls.

Rina nodded, sending Niko a smug grin.

Taiga gave the girl a small, sad, sympathetic smile. He'd seen that expression on her face for a split second. Poor Mirei. Poor little girl. She'd had a real rough life so far, huh? He hoped they at least made things better. Taiga began to eat his food as well, blinking when the taste washed over his taste buds. He had to actively fight to keep from mashing as much as he could into his face, chewing and gulping down what he had.

"This is really good!" Taiga grinned over at Sayo. He wasn't going to lie, seeing her face flushed and a smile on her face, so obviously happy everyone so far was enjoying her food, made her look absolutely adorable. "I wish I could cook half as good as this. Compliments to the chef!"

Niko squinted at Rina some more before sighing. "Well, as long as she's okay with it, then." Niko nearly had the same reaction that Taiga did, having to actually pause so he didn't make a fool of himself while eating. He, like Taiga and Rina, had a great appreciation for food. And he knew why that was for Taiga, it was similar to him; they both, at some point in their lives, had to deal with very little to eat. Being a street urchin and someone who lived in the Motherland would do that. But Rina... Well, he could only guess. Considering how much she didn't like talking about her past, he could only assume something similar.

Mirei ate slowly, watching the food fall from between the chopsticks. Most children would have been disappointed, seeing the rice stained with the curry sauce slip out of their grasp two out of three times they tried to pick it up. Instead, Mirei's eyes went wide with wonder behind her glasses as she kept trying, until she managed to get it just right. Then she smiled up at Taiga, pride making her eyes sparkle. "Like that?" Of course, she was also hungry, but learning something new was always a weakness of hers. Her father had often joked that knowledge or even curiosity, should have been her most defining trait, the most enviable by the holy spirits. She went back to her food without waiting for a response, delight finally bringing some color back to her cheeks.

"Yep! Good job!" Taiga would have given Mirei a thumb's up if both his hands weren't occupied. Instead he stuffed a few more bites greedily into his maw, chewing fast and thorough.

Mirei's eyes brightened with further joy at the praise and then she simply focused on the food, Ivy and Rue already happily buried in their own meals. Or, at least Ivy was. Rue had already finished and plopped on the grass to sleep. Because what else was there to do after eat, except digest?

Rina looked just as pleased by the meal and positively squealed at Sayo placing a second bowl over her already empty one.

Sayo blushed, both at the gratitude at the compliments. "You're welcome," she finally managed, looking at her hands and fiddling with her thumbs. "I-I wake up early to c-c-cook for papa when he gets home on midnight shifts. It makes it easy to make lunches for Mama too..." Seeing Keren's fingers fumbling, she quickly reached into the pouch at her waist and handed the girl a spoon. "I'm sorry! I should have noticed! Here!" Her smile was guileless and heartfelt. "Use this! You need to get your strength back up."

Keren looked up at Sayo, obvious frustration on her face. She tried not to look at her new friend with too much of the anger she felt over not getting a simple skill so wrong, not even matching Mirei's learning ability when it came to picking this skill up. She crumbled slightly, eventually, and took the spoon from Sayo's hand gently. "Th-thank you, very much." She said softly, gently beginning to scoop the strange looking food into her mouth. All of her negative feelings immediately melted away into surprise. It was so spicy but  _so good._  The breaded shrimp also complimented the taste of the sauce, and the rice gave it an interesting, filling texture. Dolce watched her a moment longer before finally digging in, herself.

Yuugo let out a soft laugh. "Calm down Sayo. She's not going to be able to relax with you in her face like that."

Sayo shot him a pout of utter displeasure. He only chewed on some tempura, grinning at her. Falcor took another happy bite out of his fish, spitting out bones.

"Your skill is really showing then, Sayo-chan." Taiga grinned at the younger girl. "I bet your family is blessed to have such a talented young lady as a daughter." If only he had  _any_  skills comparable to her cooking ones. Then maybe he... Maybe...

 _Maybe what?_  He blinked in confusion at that thought, before shrugging and going back to his food. So delicious~

Sayo, with all of this praise, nearly dropped the bowl she was giving Monodramon after being sure Keren was eating her fill. He needed to eat too after all! He'd worked hard. Sayo took those seconds to look away and bury her face in the non-existent brim of her hat. "N-No, I doubt that v-v-very much." She managed to give Keren a returning smile. "You're welcome."

* * *

Finally, after everyone had eaten their fill (including Sayo, Monodramon and Artemis themselves), the girl started to pack up, taking dishes and utensils alike. Even Rina didn't offer much protest, playing with the floppy bits on V.V.'s head. He seemed not to mind.

After finishing somehow storing everything, even the platter, into that little pouch, Sayo critically examined the remaining bottles of water. "These should be enough for you guys!" She smiled. "I'm supposed to help Angemon in the clinic this afternoon, so I should head back now! Good luck everyone!"

Artemis grunted her agreement, trailing after the small girl as she waved farewell. Mirei didn't react to this, having been peacefully dozing on Taiga's knee. Yuugo instead waved her off, brushing Falcor's fur with his fingers.

"Steal me some burn paste," he said.

Sayo beamed and the group felt a horrible urge to look away from the pure exuberance. Rina almost winced at the brightness of it all. "No!"

Taiga himself was gently threading his fingers into Mirei's hair, almost absently. He looked full on at Sayo's joyus expression and felt something stir in his heart. Something similar to what he'd felt around Mirei, though far different. He didn't want to even think about what it might be though. Either way, he was probably the only one among them other than the sleepy girl laying on his lap. He merely smiled and waved back.

"Have fun, Sayo." He said, ignoring the thudding in his chest.. "Thank you again for the meal! It was really good."

Sayo didn't seem to notice it, or if she did, she was long immune to causing it. Yuugo seemed mostly amused. "You're welcome!" She said, taking Monodramon's hand. "We'll see you at dinner!"

Then she was off down the path, quickly out of sight. The foolish people envied her for being able to leave.

Falcor yawned, showing his fangs. Then he blinked at Tyrone. "So," he said, looking up. "What's next, mister coach?"

Perhaps it was because Yuugo was right next to him but he thought the cub's eyes looked quite a bit less lazy and lethargic than they had this morning.

Rina straightened up all of a sudden, her red eyes gleaming. V.V elbowed her in the arm and got ignored.

"Honestly, I think we should head back into town and use the gym's facilities." Tyrone said, beginning to pack up his fishing gear. He folded his rod and placed it into his tool bag. "These lumps all have issues I can't really help with by myself. We might need Togemon and Kabuterimon's help. Use their machines for a few more hours and then call it a day. Have a good idea where your strengths and weaknesses are."

"Really?" Fergus whined loudly. Taiga winced and gave his puppy a look to quiet down. Mirei was sleeping and she looked so peaceful. The Plotmon's next words were quite a bit quieter, but still whiny. "We've been training since before dawn! How much more do we even need to do today!"

"I have to agree." Sashenka spoke up as well, tail stiff. "If you can't find a regimen for us on your own, what is the point of you being our trainer besides Jijimon's word? We could have gone to the gym this entire time and actually made some gains."

"Would ya?" Tyrone asked simply. For some reason, the tone made both Sasha and Fergus' fur stand on end. "Because from what I seen, ya lumps never have done anything outside of what ya'll want to do even when asked. Ya make a token effort and then stop. It's a bad habit ya'll need to be broken off if ya'll wanna protect your human noodles."

"That's the third time you called us noodles." Niko pointed out, sarcastic. He had been watching this growing drama with the fascination of a slow-motion train wreck happening in front of him.

"Because ya'll look like noodles, with those skinny limbs." Tyrone's sarcasm beat out Niko's by a wide margin. Niko could only give a slight wave in acknowledgement.

"We've all been busy helping the city run in our own way." Sasha stated. His tail was thrashing, not the same tiny wiggles that happened when he got ear scratches. It was almost like an angry cat's in its erratic movements. "Just because we aren't fitness minded like you-"

Falcor let out a low grunt all of a sudden, leaning forward. "Hey, Sasha? Shut up for once, okay?" The normally lazy drawl of the large cub was gone, replaced with something a little more unsettling. "Tyrone's just trying to help, ya know. And you don't really deserve his help." He stretched and raised himself up on oversized paws, padding forward. "And he's right, anyway. I don't just sleep on Jiji's floor! I wander on patrol like I'm told sometimes. The only one I see put up a sweat that's not V.V. is Dolce, and that's only because the Pabu gangs outsmart her. They know terrain a heck of a lot better than she does, and they're babies." He leaned forward and did another stretch.

"But!" Falcor bared his fangs at the air before continuing. "You guys say you're helping. Doing what? I don't see  _you guys_  bandaging sick people. I don't see  _you guys_  learning strategies. I don't hear  _you guys_  making shelters or escape plans, or training to defend these guys. I see  _you guys_  dallying about with this every day lifestyle, like this war is just supposed to end like magic. Like our humans just showing up is enough. And now Tyrone's trying to help you guys be ready for it. He doesn't have to." His voice had steadily been growing lower, less contained. "He shouldn't even bother. Heck, V.V.'s not one of us. He shouldn't bother either. He's just bein' nice. That's a fat lot better than you guys ever are."

Yuugo shifted in his seat, eyes growing wide in interest. He had only known Falcor for under seventy-two hours but he could already tell: this didn't happen. Falcor speaking up  _never happened_. Tyrone's eyes were nearly comically wide.

"Hey, I already said I was helping Snimon in the meat apple orchard!" Fergus defended himself against Falcor's accusation. He was ignoring Taiga's wide eyed look, as the boy watched all this unfold in front of them. They'd all seemed like such good friends, or at least a close knit group before. This all seemed so strange. "I was helping the entire village get food! I helped grow it!"

"I'm not a chef, I didn't need to do that!" Fergus continued to protest.

Falcor turned on him with mild curiosity. "Yeah but do ya know how to cook it? Do ya store it and dry it?" He shrugged his forelegs in a distinctly human manner. "All you do is get it. That's like, the  _minimum_  of actual use, Fergie."

"That's Meramon's job, not mine! Suppliers don't need to do those things!"

Falcor made a face and looked down. "So what if it's their job? You should know anyway! You should know how things work and not just  _take things like you're entitled to!"_

Rina tilted her head at V.V., hearing this. "Is this normal?"

"Nope." V.V yawned. "Been waiting for it to happen though. Like, a lot. They're a bunch a kids."

"You're a kid too," Rina pointed out. "All of us are kids.

"I'm older than you." He grunted. "This is like having Tsukasa in the same room as himself."

"Mmrm." Her grip on him tightened for a moment. V.V bumped his head against her cheek.

"Sorry. I won't bring him up again."

"Mrm." She leaned her chin on his head. Already forgiven.

He sat back, short tail twitching. "I mean, for all you guys talk about avenging Dylas and protecting everyone from ending up like him, what are you actually doing about it? Aside from, you know, going on revenge sprees at the slightest bit of power you get that if you haven't noticed, hurt these guys." Falcor made a face. "Dolce's girl fainted after she was done with her, tall and pouty passed out too! But that doesn't matter to any of you, does it? You've finally got the chance you need to be tough without doing anything!"

Dolce, who had been watching this quietly, flinched when that name was dropped. She looked away, while Sashenka and Fergus both seemed even more incensed. Fergus was starting to growl.

"It's hardly revenge sprees," Sashenka exclaimed, standing up now. "You're being very unfair, Falcor. This is our home. What are we supposed to do when we finally gain the ability to defend it? Stand by and let it be destroyed? We can't let what happened with him happen again. I don't know why the humans passed out after we evolved and of course it worries me, don't think my human's safety isn't always in my mind! I waited my entire life to meet him, we all did for our humans."

"And they almost died because you're busy focusing on protecting something in the bloodiest way possible!" Finally, finally, Falcor's voice became a roar. Mirei stirred a little. "You're all so attached to this vague idea of 'that not happening again'! But you're doing nothing! Like Tyrone says, you just act like you're doing something! At least Artemis is honestly a jerk! She doesn't pretend she's anything she's not! But you all sit there like our higher calling means anything, like the answers, the power will just fall into our laps! And what the heck do you think is going to happen when we leave File, huh? We can't just protect our home! If we're special, we're going to do bigger things?! How can we save the world isolating ourselves and being proud that all we can do is  _supply_? All we do is  _look after babies._  All we do is  _patrol_. You need to know how to survive everywhere else or these people will die! Our hope for these worlds will die!"

He stalked forward, baring his teeth at the two of them, Sashenka the most. "What if they had fainted during the battle while you were busy cutting up that guy and shoving your ideals in his face like being like them is something to be proud of? What if that girl hadn't stopped Dolce? She cut off that little dragon's limbs and kicked him when he was down! Yeah! Good job! At least she was nice enough to care that Tyrone was dying!" He stepped back. "Sure, it was half worth it but at least she cared that he was dead. None of you ever give a crap! About anyone! Anything! I've waited my whole life for Yuugo! He still nearly died! They all still nearly died! And you all think you suddenly can just get stronger and change that?! You're just too good for Tyrone, an apprentice to teach you?"

Falcor turned to Dolce, staring at her hard. "When the reason he can't is because we just aren't experienced enough? When all of you have the stamina of Motimon?! And yet,  _I'm_  the one being unfair?" He raised a paw. " _I'm being unfair_! All right, Sashenka! Why do you trust V.V? He didn't hatch with us! He wasn't born here! If you listened, everyone knows that but you guys! He just dropped by and Jijimon gave him a pillow. And yet, Tyrone, who hatched with us, who grew up in this messy city with us, who has starved and suffered and fought with us and is helping out of the goodness in his naggy heart is the one you guys decide to just spit on, and look down on and ignore? Because he's not just easy to get along with? Because he's a _Virus_? Is that what it is?" The cub's face shifted a little, like a sneer. "Get off your high horses. You like Dolce just fine. But you don't like Tyrone. And you're too busy thinking I'm a stupid bum, the lot of you, to think I would just let you do it. No. He's my friend. And I'm sick of you acting like that's a problem."

V.V. raised his head. "Don't drag me into your toddler arguments."

"You're a part of the problem by proxy!" Falcor retorted, ears back but not even sparing time to look at him. "Wanna go about it?"

"I will turn you into paste, stick to your chibis." V.V. waved a hand. But he was smiling, like a proud older brother. Rina giggled.

Falcor looked all three of them over, fangs still bared, watching their expressions and their horrified silence. He dared them to speak. They didn't. Seeing that, all the ferocity drained out of him and his eyes sparkled with absolute delight. "But, I mean, if you're really against training with him, here's how you can get out of it." He raised a paw. "Evolve, you two, and beat me. Maybe I'll evolve, maybe I'll not. I dunno!" He sounded absolutely delighted. "But if you guys and Fergie can beat me, who has done some of the training, then you guys can go off and do what you wanna and live with those consequences."

He wagged his tail. "But if you lose every time you complain about training without a good reason I'm gonna tell that kind lady your food portions are withheld by another hour from everyone else. And I'll help Tyrone tie you up to trees."

Tyrone snorted. "Stupid bum." The sound was wet and insincere.

Falcor beamed at him.

* * *

"Here you are, sir!"

If there was anything Sayo had been taught by her mother that made sense to her it was that the best way to conquer a person was with a smile. Frowns were clear. Smiles were not easy to define. Smiles had different meanings from everyone. The more she disarmed a person, the more she could home in on them. the more she could get-

Well, what she needed.

She placed the platter in front of the squirming Impmon. According to Meramon, the little guy was always like that, floating over his chair and twitching like that. She hoped her latest bit of food would help. Being anxious in this world seemed to only do people harm. Though anything could do anyone harm, really.

Impmon tried to smile at her, the points that likely constituted his ears drooping with some heavy burden. Sayo resisted the urge to touch them. "Thanks," he said, reaching for the bowl. "It smells amazing."

Sayo blushed. She was happy to help. "You're welcome!" She turned away to head back to the door and invite others to the now cleaned and vacated table. Artemis hopped off the stool, wiping her face. Monodramon was nowhere to be found, but that was okay. Angemon had wanted the use of his hands.

"Wanna help me guide people in Artemis?" Sayo clasped her hands together. It was so strangely easy not to be afraid of the rabbit. Never mind that she was supposed to be her partner, but Artemis seemed just like a rabbit. She was very sour, very fierce, but Sayo was safe. It was like she was another baby following her about. To be honest, it was one of the few times Sayo found herself not minding. It was like having someone like her home friends... how were they doing? Had they even noticed she and Yuugo were gone?

Artemis grunted, looking at her with those large, reddish eyes of hers. Then she nodded. Sayo smiled and led the way. As she walked, she felt a pair of eyes watch her until an obstacle got in the way.

Impmon turned away slowly, back to his food. He let out a sigh. "This is going to be difficult..."

Outside, Sayo stretched, leaning forward in the cooler air. Slowly, the streets filled with all kinds of Digimon ready and willing to eat as the sun set on a long, hard day of effort.

The others should be getting back soon.

By the time they did, it was to Falcor carrying a sleeping Yuugo, Taiga and Niko dragging their Digimon, and a puffy-eyed Tyrone, among other things.

Sayo tilted her head. "What happened?"

Niko made a face. "Falcor."

The Liollmon beamed at her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, it's back! Guess who's also back! Say hi, man!
> 
> Onix: I'm back in a writing, officially maybe for good. Aiko got me to do it. Maybe I'll write something on my own again soon. Who knows. At this point, I certainly don't. Also this chapter went mostly how we wanted it. Mostly. I love it.
> 
> Clearly he loves it, we wrote over 8k! And we've already started the next chapter! On that note, I'm going to start writing the second arc pretty soon, since we already have an idea of how it's going to go, so we'll have a steady backlog when we get there. Anyway, please drop a review. They really help us out, even if it's just a few words.
> 
> See you guys later! Thanks for dropping by!


	14. It's Our Choices Harry

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning for ptsd, implied murder, violence, swearing, and harm of children.

V.V. watched Rina from where he sat on a nearby stump, watched her shimmy up trees like she was born to like she was made to. Meat apples hit the basket she carried along with the dirt, followed by leaves and small, unnamed insects. All of it crashed indiscriminately downward one way or another. "Fergus will be mad you're raiding the dead." Not that any of it belonged to the dead anymore. It was a city maintained orchard anyway. They could scold her but she would do what she wanted and no one would, or reasonably could stop her.

"Then someone should come here and take care of the orchard." She sounded amused, but V.V. knew she actually just didn't care. "He has other things to worry about, like being kicked around by the resident nice guy."

V.V. let out a laugh. "Yeah, that's true." He stretched his short limbs. "Is this really necessary though?"

"You heard the kitty!" Rina jumped to another tree, dangling by her arms. "We have to be ready to leave at any time."

"What about the others?"

"What about them?" She sounded calm or maybe puzzled if he stretched it.

"You're attached to them. You can't just leave."

"I can easily be unattached though!" She hopped down and peered at V.V., their identical red eyes reflecting each other and his own was much less detailed."What's with the emotional concern all of a sudden?" It certainly felt sudden, or raw and new. It was something, something she could not articulate correctly.

V.V simply tapped his head with a clawed finger, watching her pupils shrink. "You need them right now. You like them."

"Doesn't matter." Rina looked towards her haul instead of him. "I have a mission to complete."

" _Does_  matter." V.V jumped down to stand beside her. "Your condition is better with them." He had to be careful here, appeal to logic and observation. Instincts were only so relevant. "Your body works better when you're trying to protect them. You want to do it."

"Doesn't matter what I want." Rina picked up her haul and then more.

"Matters to me," he said promptly. "I look after you."

Rina paused, then she hugged him tightly around the middle. "I know. Thanks, V.V."

He squeezed her back. "I'm always gonna try and do right by you."

"Yeah." Her voice took on, for a second, a klaxon tone. "You always do."

V.V. looked her up and down. "Still hurting."

Rina smiled, the expression more of a thin line. "Yeah. It won't stop. We should go back."

"Yeah." V.V. took her hand, let the subject drop. "Together now."

The answering sparkle in Rina's eyes made the tension in V.V.'s lungs relax a little.

Let the others be suspicious. Let them be wary. If it would get Rina the help he knew she needed, then he would become a villain the likes of which these children had never seen. He just had to hope it wasn't necessary.

* * *

Not for the first time in this past week, Keren had been wondering to herself if the choice to follow Mirei and the others into this world had been the correct one.

Sure, it led to her getting Dolce, and swiftly gaining friends in all of the kids who were with her. However, there was not only the threat of death via evil marauding empirical army that was trying to take over the File Island territories, but also being worked to exhaustion by two of her new supposed friends. Tyrone was already a harsh task master, and that was perfectly fine. From what she'd heard and witnessed a few days ago, the poor thing had been constantly ostracized from his peers due to being disliked for his abrasive behavior, which might have stemmed from how he'd been treated. That only led to a vicious cycle of him being left out more and then him being  _not very nice_  right back. It was honestly very saddening to her. It's why she didn't complain or at least tried not to.

Especially not since the display Falcor made of two of his supposed friends, and then  _he_  turned into an even harsher task master than Tyrone was after that. Sashenka and Fergus had both been beaten to the point of unconsciousness and hadn't woken up until the next morning, even after having medicine and 'healing items' applied to them by the kindly Angemon doctor that lived close by the restaurant Sayo had taken to working in.

Ever since then Keren had been waking up every morning hurting in ways she never thought she would, her young body being pushed past its natural breaking point. This helped contribute to what had to be the most miserable week she'd ever experienced in her young life and with her parents that said  _a lot_. Stuck in a strange place, with strange people, in life-threatening danger that could come at any moment. Not only that but having some nice people turn out to not be as nice as they seemed, as well. Dolce had scared her when she 'evolved,' the same with Sashenka. She could see why Falcor tore them down. Whoever that 'Dylas' person was, him being gone was a reason they both seemed to want revenge, and probably partly why they were all together in the first place. At least now. She just wished Falcor didn't have to make himself terrifying instead of silly and cute like he had been. She couldn't look at him the same after that.

Or why he had to evolve to beat down Fergus and Sashenka. Poor Yuugo had passed out soon after, and she had to guess it was partially due to shock at the brutality of it all. It had certainly been for her. Both with Dolce, and then Falcor.

Not that she passed out that time. She allowed herself some pride in  _that_.

As if in tune with her thoughts, said supposedly dopey lion cub strolled up to her with a few canteen straps clenched in his teeth. "Here!" he said after he spat them on the ground. "They're cold! Put them on your thighs! It'll feel real nice." Then, with a delighted little tail wag, he sauntered away to a stretched out Yuugo, who gave him a pleased little ear scratch or two. Delighted purrs filled the air. Yuugo smiled at her underneath the vent he had sat under and shut his eyes again. None of them were quite handling this as well as they all probably thought the others were. Well, except maybe Sayo-chan, but Sayo just was Sayo and was probably crumbling a little where none of them could see. Keren wasn't entirely sure

But today was a respite. Or at least an attempt at one. There was the possibility of an invasion on the way. the least they could do was be ready for it this time. This meant rest and food and plans. Well, the older ones were trying to plan. Except their resident mysterious war expert was good, and Niko was  _not_  happy about it.

"She'll show up soon." Sayo was trying to tell him, infinitely optimistic. As she spoke, she looked out the window with a nervous twitch of her eyes. Then her gaze brightened. "See? Right there."

Indeed, Rina was running back, looking like she had an actual reason to rush. There was someone on her back, their orange hair flopping at the sheer speed the older girl was running at.

"Good, she was gone far too long," Niko muttered under his breath, going to the window. Keren was about to not pay much more attention to this, trying to do some of the stretches they were all shown to get her body to not get stiff and achy again when Niko spoke up once. "The heck? Where did she get that kid?"

Keren's interest piqued, she came over to the window with them, along with most of them. Her eyes immediately widened, recognizing that hair color and style anywhere. She immediately went to the door and let Rina in before the girl even got close enough to ask for it.

Rina darted in within seconds and barked, "Shut the door!" as V.V. barrelled in with what appeared to be cartons of eggs in hand and a very large basket that smelled like apples. Yuugo did so, as poor Keren looked quite shell-shocked. Or at the very least scared. "Bed!" she continued quickly as Mirei hopped off of it, having been stretching up there to see better. Only then did Rina put the boy down. "Found him at the edge of the forest down the east side," she said, moving from foot to foot as she knelt to examine him. "He's exhausted and there are some burns on his left upper back. Suffering from dehydration."

Sayo moved to take a closer look, being the one with the closest medical supplies. Climbing up the bed, she sat there and traced her fingers over his skin. "This arm's fragile."

"He was holding it when I found him," Rina supplied, looking outside. "And those guys are moving over there. Like, a lot."

Yuugo was watching Keren. "Are you all right?"

Keren looked at him for a moment, her eyes still wide. She opened her mouth a moment, closed it, then looked back down at the boy on the bed. She moved until she was by the side of the bed and kneeled down, looking at him with tears gathering in her eyes. Seeing him like this, it hurt so much...

"Koh..." She whispered hoarsely. Seeing him here put such fear in her. It was bad enough she was in this world, being conscripted to help save it from the forces plaguing it, but now he was here too. How could this be? Did Mirei's uncles send him too? Did he also have a Digivice? Did they  _give_  him one? Did he follow her? It was almost too much to bear, not knowing.

"Getting water, then," Taiga announced, heading for the few empty packs. "If he's dehydrated it'd be best to get him some. And fruit. You don't lose just water in dehydration. Niko, go and get a splint."

"When did  _you_  become Rina's second in command?" The blond asked grouchily, though he did as commanded.

"Because she actually hugs me and I like it, unlike you." Came Taiga's cheeky reply. He got hit with a sock for his trouble.

"I'll get fruit," Sayo chirped, darting past Taiga and calling upon her connections of the nice diner.

"I'd hug you both at the same time if you both weren't so bony," Rina deadpanned. "And be careful. I heard things going boom out there. It's not safe."

"What the heck is safe," Artemis deadpanned. V.V. flicked her on the nose and got a scratch to the face for his trouble.

Yuugo sat beside Keren, looking over her shoulder "So this is your brother?" Well, they weren't exactly alike, but it was close. "He'll be okay."

Koh himself made a small gasp of pain. Mirei placed her hands over the injured arm and his eyes shot open when he cried out in alarm. Mirei jumped back halfway across the room, curling in with the Digimon to defend herself.

"Don't you move," Rina said gravely. "She was trying to keep your arm cold, it was probably roasting."

"It _hurt_ ," Koh mumbled, expression going very much against the pain he was feeling. It wasn't much of an expression at all, actually. His bleary red eyes scanned his surroundings and rested on Keren. His lips twitched like he was trying to smile. "Nee-chan?"

" _Otouto_." Keren replied, tearfully. She gently hugged him, minding his arm. Niko raised an eyebrow as he brought over the splint so that Rina could start applying it. He was thinking back to the time in which he was carrying her and she mentioned her 'onii-chan'. She'd assumed it was her brother, as everyone had, but... Well, with this exchange, that idea was gone out the window. He wondered who she had been referring too back then now.

He almost got clocked in the head by Taiga tossing the canteens at him. "Give him some of that after you get the splint on him!" Taiga told him, before going to do as was customary for him at this point and comfort Mirei, gently coax her back out into the open and away from the Digimon, who were all bunched together as most watched this go on in silence. Likely surprised by all this.

Koh almost smiled. "Thought you were back at camp..." he said, watching Rina with wary eyes as she came closer with the splint. Rina herself only narrowed her gaze at him in reply, making to apply the splint. He tried to pull away and failed, the one hand on his chest causing as much of a problem as Keren's tearful hug was. Rina only regarded him as she applied the splint.

Yuugo took the other canteen and blinked at Niko. "Do you guys like doing that to each other?"

Mirei shivered a little and obediently went to him. "Just surprised," she mumbled, pink in the face. "I'm okay."

Keren merely shook her head, whimpering. "I was hoping you were still safe." She whispered back. She pulled away, looking him over and wincing. "How did you even get here?"

"When you're practically brothers who are the same age?" Niko gave Yuugo a dull look. He shrugged at the younger boy. "Yeah. It's just what we do. Rina likes to get us in headlocks too because she thinks it's funny to see us flail impotently."

Taiga gave the small girl a smile and gently took her hand. "Good. He just didn't expect it. Don't worry, he'll be fine."

Koh let out a grunt as Rina finished with the splint, expression still barely changing. "My computer started acting funny when the storm hit. I went to get the camp counselor but..." He shrugged. "Next thing I knew I was in that forest."

Yuugo tilted his head. "Arata and I don't do that.

"Arata-kun's a noodle," Sayo commented as she came back into the building with what looked like a pineapple and an orange on top of quite a few others. they could very well not be.

Mirei nodded, taking his hand in both of hers.

"I..." Keren's lip trembled a moment before she shook her head. "But,  _how_? I... We got here because of Mirei and her uncles, how could they have gotten you, too? I..."

"We were all chosen to come here, kick ass and chew bubblegum." Niko droned, before shaking his head. "And we don't got no gum and we are getting our asses kicked by the people trying to stop us all from being 'limp noodles'."

Koh's eyes flickered. "Who are you talking about? Chosen? For what?"

"It's not like it's hard," Falcor offered with a yawn. "And to stop this army of course. Or whatever the threat is now. Probably the army of communists."

"What's a communist?" Ivy asked. Rue swatted her head.

"Some human concept."

"How do you even know the word? Artemis muttered, stepping over. "Lemme do it you crying mass of derp." She squinted at Keren and hopped up on the bed. Clapping her paws together, water fell from them and landed on Koh. The boy squirmed for a moment before the tension eased from his shoulders. He wiggled his fingers and didn't wince."

"Whoa." He turned to Artemis now, eyes like he was dissecting her without a knife. "Neat."

"Waste of energy," Artemis corrected, hopping back down.

"Mirei can explain it better." Niko shrugged his shoulders. "But what we're here for ain't here anymore, so apparently we're being repurposed or something like that." He noticed Sayo discreetly putting the swear jar back into her bag once more. Girl was anticipating his foul mouth now. Heh, not this time. She had his wallet anyway.

At this rate, Niko was never getting his wallet back, period. Poor boy.

Keren gently took her brother's hand in her own, looking up at Artemis gratefully. Then she sighed and looked at him. "We were supposed to stop something really bad," She told her brother. "Me and everyone here, except Rina-sempai. But they were already stopped. We got brought here because they, Mirei and her uncles, didn't know that."

Koh tilted his head. "That doesn't make sense." He sat up a little and leaned on Keren. "They're not the ones who chose you, right? So, there must have been something else, because if there was nothing but whatever's happening here right now, there wouldn't be a point in bringing you guys all here, would there? THe ones that chose you wouldn't have let you come through.

Mirei shifted in her spot behind Taiga. "I don't know..." She knew, actually. She knew the one who had chosen them. But they had been quiet. Not even coming home had brought their noise. Maybe, maybe they had died in the aftermath... The very thought made her shake in her spot. Maybe a worse thing had happened...

Then the little girl frowned and looked up at Niko with some sort of wonder. "You... erm, you used my name just now, didn't you?

Rina let out a snicker as the realization connected to her as we... "Yeah, he did! See, he's just a big softie!"

A single drop of sweat ran down Niko's cheek as he mentally cursed himself. "N-no, I didn't. I didn't. You were just hearing things."

"We would all have to be hearing things, bro." Taiga was grinning now. He pat Mirei on the head. "You called our little snowgirl by her name. Her cuteness is growing on you, isn't it?"

"You shut up." Niko groused, his cheeks buring. Keren actually managed a small smile at the goings on, glad to see her new friends were really starting to come together after their Digimon's spat. She looked at her brother and gave him a solemn expression before hugging him again.

"We don't know who chose us to come here," Keren said. "I don't think we will ever know. But we're here now, and even if the reason we were here to do isn't around any more, we're still going to try to do some good..." She sighed, shaking her head. "I'm glad you're here, Koh, but at the same time I wish you hadn't been able to come here... This world is dangerous, and full of people who want to hurt others." Something flashed in her mind, and she was about to ask the question that was probably burning in most everyone's mind when it came to why Koh was in this world, but sadly it was put into the backburner when Taiga opened his mouth for an unintentionally thoughtless question.

"So, Koh-kun, right?" He asked. "You called Keren nee-chan, right? From what I've heard about you I assumed you were the older brother, because she called Niko 'nii-chan' and I had thought she was talking about you..." Taiga trailed off at the horrified silence Keren exuded right there, her having turned to look up at him with wide amber eyes filled with disbelief. She obviously hadn't known that.

Mirei flushed in confusion. I don't mind if you don't..." She was happy they hadn't pursued that other train of thought. The answers were uncomfortable to think about. Though apparently not as uncomfortable as what Taiga had just asked.

Rina looked between them all in complete fond exasperation. "Open mouth, insert foot, huh Taiga?"

Koh was staring too, and instead of horror, there was something else in his seemingly blank expression. Like laser beam locking on a target. "Like him, Nee-chan?" He looked down, as if mulling it over. Then, he shrugged, as if the answer was relatively irrelevant in the grand scheme of things. "We had older siblings. They disappeared one day. From the balcony."

"When?" Koh tilted his head to see Sayo having dropped her fruit. Her gaze had turned stony.  _"When?"_

He shrugged. "Four years ago. Why?"

The intensity in her eyes seemed to grow before she slumped back, all ferocity gone. "No... it's nothing. Just a funny coincidence."

"Mm." Koh, appeased, turned to Keren. "How did that guy seem like Takumi-nii to you? Nii-san wasn't a jerk."

"I..." Keren was blushing horribly now. She hid her face from her brother and friends, unable to look at them. "He... I..."

"I carried her on my back," Niko supplied for her. He looked suitably horrified, like Sayo had been. He didn't understand why she was, but the thought of losing family members while they were in the house obviously scared him. And gave him his own flashbacks. "She was tired... I picked carried her because we needed to move. We were in the middle of a very dangerous situation."

Taiga however looked very embarrassed in this entire situation. He continued to pat Mirei's head, trying to comfort her, even though he knew that in this case it wasn't her that needed the comforting. "Yeah, tastes like leather." He replied to Rina, sighing in exasperation with himself.

Rina took his wrist and gave it a sympathetic squeeze. "Eh, I do it more than you. It's fine." MIrei looked up at him with her large purple eyes and leaned her head against his knee. She wasn't sure if she could actually help but she would like to try. He had been so kind to her after all.

Koh nodded. "Ah. Nii-san did that. Makes sense." He reached over and flicked her on the nose. "Stop that. You find him nice. I was just curious. You know that."

"When aren't we in a dangerous situation?" Yuugo couldn't help but muse. He glanced at Sayo, whose dark skin was now looking somewhat pale. "Sayo?"

"I... erm..." She made her way to the door. "I need to... uh, uhm, go outside for some air." She hurried out before anyone could stop her. Artemis let out a very put-upon groan and went after her.

Keren looked up at her brother with big, sad eyes. After Sayo's absconding, she didn't know how to respond to him. After a moment she just lay her head on his shoulder. "I still feel so embarrased." She finally muttered. "And... I miss them, so much."

Monodramon looked at the group with huge eyes before scampering off after Sayo and Artemis, clearly intending to follow. He gave a wave before he left, the pure friendliness of it still putting Niko off.

* * *

Monodramon would probably be hard pressed to find Sayo. She had bolted into the heart of the city, and more specifically, the most dangerous area. It probably wasn't on purpose, but it was a very real danger nevertheless. By the time he did find her, it was underneath a shattered doorway. Her head was resting on her knees and she was sitting very still. Once he got closer however, he would hear the clear sniffling. Artemis sat on the lower step, trying to prod her face into view.

"Come on," she was saying, trying to sound cajoling. "We're stuck together, you've gotta tell me what's wrong."

"No!" Sayo's muffled insistence would have been painful if anyone else was there."I'm just... I'm imagining things. That's all. It's a coincidence... that's all. It didn't happen... none of it happened. I just saw things..."

"Saw  _what_?" Artemis grumbled.

"Nothing!"

"You had to have seen something."

Sayo only sniffled. "I'm just messed up, that's all... I imagine things. Don't worry about it."

"I'm not worrying." Artemis made a face. "I'm  _asking_."

Monodramon came up slowly, looking lost. He didn't know how to help this, so all he did was come over and sit next to Sayo. He watched her, watched her sadness and felt so helpless. He didn't know how to help her besides coming over and laying his head on her shoulder.

Sayo jumped at the touch and tried to smile, only to fail. "I... erm... I...I think..." She swallowed. "I think those two people being missing is my fault." Her breath hitched. "Everyone said they were dead...There was, there was a lot of blood but... but it wasn't-" She let out a horrible whining sound. "They were trying to help me and I  _killed them_!"

Artemis raised a baffled eyebrow, clearly in disagreement.

Monodramon whimpered. The thought of Sayo, his savior, doing anything like that went completely against his world view. Her sadness hurt him in ways his young, reformed mind hadn't ever felt before. He shook his head and nuzzled against her, like an affectionate puppy trying to stop the tears. "Didn't. Couldn't. No matter what you think you did, you couldn't have." He said, gently and with an innocent, heartfelt insistence. "Something else must have happened, whatever it is. Something else. You didn't kill no one."

"Well, if she did, it would make thin's easier for me." A shadow fell upon them as that husky, deep, unfamiliar voice interrupted him. Three pairs of eyes shot up to look at a giant bear with violet fur and a white muzzle and underbelly. A cresent moon was on his forehead. He stood up, making himself look even bigger, and he held out a paw to Sayo that was bigger than her body, with claws as large as she was. He had on what he thought looked like a friendly grin, but it was instead showing off far too many big, sharp teeth. "Ya could use those killin' talents for the better side if ya are a killer, lass. After all, what good is a killer when ya trying to defend things?"

Sayo flinched and stood up, guilt and dread filling in her throat. She reached out and squeezed both their hands. "K-Killing to protect and defend people is a be-be-bet-ter than what I did... What good would I be to you?" She didn't know why she was able to stand up like this. Maybe because this was a stranger, a stranger whose only value on her was how much of her blood he could get on the floor. "How is your side b-better?"

"Why, keepin' people from havin' to be like me or you in the future!" The bear continued to smile, even as Artemis and Monodramon made themselves look bigger to try and ward him away. It wasn't working. "See, lass, what I'm trying to do, what we're trying to do, is set up a world without a future of bloodshed. To do that, unfortunately we're gonna had to shed some of that blood, 'til people stop tryin' t' keep on resisting the Emperor's word. He doesn't want a world of sufferin', yanno. And honestly, I'm gettin' tired of this life, of havin' to go 'round and clobber the hell out of people for the sake of makin' them listen. So yeah." He held his paw out closer to Sayo. "I just want ya to have some sense. Killin' is bad, hurtin' people is bad. Why not help us make this process go faster so we can get on to having good lives with everyone? That's a good goal, ain't it? Just take m'hand, lass. Together, we can do it. We can make a better world under the Emperor and make everythin' safe and without the fear of the next raid from people like us."(edited)

Artemis snarled softly, and Sayo twitched, a full-body movement. "There's something wrong with that," she whispered, the girl's eyes flickering. "THe people of the present matter too. If you have to make them listen, maybe the message doesn't make sense. If your lord doesn't want that suffering, then, then he'd be better off trying to minimize that suffering. But he's not. Or his subject's aren't. This place is so broken. So..." She looked at her muddy shoes, then up at the bear. "I... I'm sorry, but I have to refuse your offer... I don't think there will be people left in your tomorrow." She slipped her other hand free of Monodramon and pulled out her Digivice. It was starting to spark. "I would really like to make a better world with you, but what's been done here... I can't forget that."

Artemis couldn't help her smile.

The bear's smile turned to a sad frown, and he raised his paw away. "Well, sorry to hear that, lass. But even as that may, if ya ain't gonna help us, I can't exactly let you leave after hearin' this. Better to silence someone so I can continue my job." With that, he raised his claws in preparation to bring them down to the small group, likely to either crush them or slice them to ribbons.

Sayo reacted and leaped forward, dodging the arc his arm would make and charging forward. Artemis' ears vibrated so fast they blurred and bubbles exploded everywhere, intent on the bear's face.

Monodramon leaped on the paw and ran up it, smashing the bear in the face. It let out a growl as it jerked back, Artemis' bubbles driving back even more. It ground its feet into the dirt and came back to bare, ready to unleash hell... Only to see Sayo's tiny form touching her Digivice to his leg, rather, desperate to make it work, moved the Digivice up his leg. He clawed with a frontal paw, the position only managing to graze her face (which had its own problems) but the light up the abdomen and when it did, the light from the Digivice proceeded to violently explode, sending all parties into various walls.

Its song rang out like a beacon.

* * *

After a moment, Niko sighed and began to pick up the basket of fruits Sayo had brought in with her. "Well, I'll go and get these washed off for ya. Then you gotta eat them, alright Koh-kun? Little printessa brought them for you." He walked over to the kitchenette area and began to wash the fruits off, getting whatever dirt and dust particles that had been there off.

Taiga managed to give the girls a grateful smile. "Y-yeah, I guess... Still." He looked over at Keren and Koh again and felt some sort of envy rise in his heart. Even with Niko all but being his brother, even with Rina's hugs and everything, he never experienced anything like that. And he most likely never would. Not with his own siblings. Even still, it what he did made him feel guilty. "I brought up a lot of bad memories for them..." He sighed, shaking his head. Taiga pet Mirei's hair and smiled a small smile at Rina. "At least you can make people laugh."

Koh leaned to press his forehead against his sister's, looking her right into the eyes. "It'd be weird if you didn't. But they need us to hang in there." He blinked at Niko. "I can't eat long distance. But I would like to whenever you haul ass over here."

A strange jar seemed to plop into his lap, open and glistening with coins.

"I like this guy," V.V. deadpanned, finally going to put the eggs in the fridge. "Very helpful, much intelligence."

"I think little missy over there does that all by herself on purpose," Rina said sagely. Then she shrugged. "Only because they don't know how to react any other way."

"Funny guy." Niko muttered to himself. He smirked a little at seeing the swear jar and said, "Gotta put a thousand, two hundred and forty yen in the swear jar now, kid. It's going to a good cause." He plopped the basket on the bed. "If you want any of that skinned, don't look at me. I did my good deed for the day and got criticized for it."

Keren gave him a grateful nod and took some of the fruit out, already working on peeling an orange for her brother. She blinked a bit as she was hit by a very dazzling smell when the rind came off. It was an aroma that, for some reason, seemed to promote a good mood in her despite herself. She blinked in confusion as she noticed there seemed to be a small, little decoration that looked like a smiling face on the front.

"You're easy to criticize because you tend to snap act," Yuugo offered softly. "Nice job bringing the canteens back . We'll need those too."

Koh tilted his head and shrugged, dropping some coins in. The smell of that fruit made him not mind but still. "The fruit here is weird," he decided, picking up an orange banana. He peeled it and bit in. His lips twitched into a grimace. "Sour."

"It would, if we could get this hope." Keren nodded in agreement. "I might ask Jijimon if we can have a sample or seeds from the plant to take back home, when we're able to go back... If we can cultivate these meats, we won't need as many farm animals."

"I didn't see you picking up the basket," Niko glowered at Yuugo, before huffing and looking away.

"It is," Keren agreed. She'd already experienced this sort of thing with that particular fruit. "That's not the only thing though. They can literally grow meat from the ground here." She still remembered how weird it had been to see legs and whole cuts hanging off of plants for people to pick up and cook. It was so weird.

Yuugo only smiled at him, remaining in his spot by the doorway. "I'm busy guarding the door."

Koh thought about this. "That would go a long way towards ending world hunger." He took another reluctant bite of the banana.

"From  _what?_ " Niko raised an eyebrow at Yuugo, more curious than anything.

Yuugo reached for Falcor, who sat next to him and wagged his tail eagerly. "All of you," he said simply. "And me."

"We'd have to figure out if it's invasive though," Koh said easily. "Or can be cultivated in our soil. It'd be a good project."

"What the hell, Yuugo." Niko narrowed his eyes at the younger boy now. "Really? Why are you gonna keep us in here? Or try, at any rate."

"Sayo wants to be alone," Taiga spoke up from where he, Rina and Mirei continued to watch the goings-on. "We already know that. You standing there and acting like a guard dog isn't really going to help us for when we need to go out there to do other things, Yuugo-kun."

Yuugo nodded minutely. He didn't disagree. "But you also know there are a lot of dangerous things preparing to attack out there." He exhaled. "Koh-san here is now still injured. We can't leave him by himself and only one of us can make our partners evolve like that at will. She's likely in danger out there."

Rina thought about this. "Ah, yeah and everyone here has a bleeding heart that runs at the sound of the first boom to help. True that. At least being a sitting duck in here gives everyone cover. But I'll be fine."

"We need you to keep your energy up," Yuugo pointed out.

"It will... Though we'll have to get home, first." Keren sighed, before taking apart the orange and handing him some of the slices. "No idea how we'll do that, though... We got here because some weird men in tribal masks sang some sort of weird song."

Koh nodded. "Well, there's got to be a way to go back. Once the quest is complete or something."

"But there are four of us now, counting you." Taiga frowned, nodding slightly. "It still would be a good idea for one of you to go check on her soon, if that's the case. After all, she's outside now, and it's dangerous, like you said..."

"Yeah, the problem is knowing what that is." Keren sighed again. "If we don't we might be stuck here... Though if I'm here with you, I might be able to stand it."

Yuugo nodded slowly. He, again, didn't disagree. He just... He chewed on his lower lip. "We still can't repeat the gest-" He was cut off by what seemed like the equivalent of a sonic boom of bird song.

Koh leaned against her again, then jumped. "What was that?"

"Okay, now I have to go look!" Rina bounced over, lifted Yuugo like a small toy, and bolted outside. V.V. made a face and ran after her.

Everyone else followed suit, with Keren helping her brother as he still hobbled along. They all eventually came to a small crowd of File Island natives, ranging from tiny babies let out of the Nursery area, to Child levels who gawked around, to concerned Adults and the rare Perfects and Mega or two milling about in stupefaction. When they made their way to the middle of the crowd, everyone paused at seeing who was there. Sayo was barely conscious with Jijimon near her on one side and the headmaster of the clinic, Angemon, on the other side.

The large humanoid was frowning, a squint under his helmet as he tested a barely responsive Sayo. After a moment he nodded at Jijimon. "She's merely exhausted." He stated. "She is showing no signs of physical trauma, and I felt nothing broken in her. She's a tough little thing. All she needs is sleep."

"Good." Jijimon had been wringing his hands. For once he was without his paw cane. "And the others?"

"Artemis and Monodramon will be fine," Angemon replied. "What I'm most curious about is the new one. I've never seen this Wanyamon before, and I've known a few. Especially the one who almost always gets himself sick."

"Not my fault!" A whiny voice cried from the side. Angemon ignored him.

Sayo barely stirred at the sound of so many footsteps around, only reacting to the lighter, smaller ones. Then, she turned her head in the vague direction she thought she had heard the voices from. "I... saved him..."

Rina, who was closest, leaned her head to hear better. "Mm?"

Sayo smiled. "Made up for it... with him. He can't kill anyone now... " she raised her hand to point and failed, hand flopping back down as exhaustion caught up.

Whispers ran through the crowd. RIna looked around for them and saw Koh, his eyes intent on the device in Sayo's hand.

For a moment, she thought she saw him smile.


	15. Peeling an Onion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning for the implied death of children, past violence, trauma, ostracization.

Work with plants and gardening was usually done beneath the baking heat of the hot sun. For the young lunamon, this truth was no different. She stood alone in the large rice paddy, her sunhat succeeding in covering her face but leaving her oversized ears baking in the heat.

As she worked, Artemis suddenly felt her fingers sting and looked down. Her gloves had torn once again, leaving her blood dripping into the soil. Muffling further agony with her teeth, the small rabbit picked herself up and went to the nearest stream... half a mile away. It was a journey she had made many times before. No one heard her muffled hisses of annoyance. The sting was already fading, but she knew the cold water would aggravate them again. Repeated encounters with this annoyance told her that.

Still, this was her duty. She would perform it for her village, feeble and useless as it was. They ate more of the fisherman's catches than her rice or even the meager meat grown by the Tanemon, leaving her with only a minor share.

She looked to the sun and let out a sigh. She needed to hurry. There were still a few hours before her prayer. So, adjusting the bandanna over her face, she hurried. Within an hour, she was back to work once again. Just like every day of every week of every month.

 _I hope brother's gotten better reception somewhere else,_  she couldn't help but think. Then Artemis shook her head, annoyance covering her mouth. She shouldn't be greedy. Having all of this wealth, food, and shelter. Her brother had risked all of that by leaving. She could not risk losing it with selfish thought. Her duty was to the shrine, and to the Twelve, and to the village. Nothing more.

As she knelt to pick up her tools to continue, she felt another sting, but this wasn't from her currently vulnerable fingers. It was from her face, already old, from a spine that had hit something straight on. The rice paddy swirled away in a vortex of mud and Artemis opened her eyes again to a blinding, gloomy sky and the smell of asphalt and blood.

 _Oh,_  she thought with dark annoyance.  _Why would I dream about that place?_  Her home village was long razed to the ground. long after she herself had left it behind. And all it had taken was kindness. Well, there was not much room for that now-

She sat up at once, core pulsating with sickening fear. She shot past the crowd around her and grabbed Sayo. She sniffed close, smelling the familiar pulse of power and hearing the slow heartbeat of the unconscious. Artemis caught her chest before it could heave, and used centuries of control to not cry with relief as she set the girl down once again.

Again. She had nearly doomed an innocent child to death  _again_. Even though she had promised him... even though she had done all of this, allowed all of this rather than run for the revenge she had so desperately begged for, she had promised her king she would make sure these spoiled children were safe and she had almost lost one  _again._   _I love you, Luthander,_  she thought viciously.  _But you asked too much of me._

Then again, he always had.

"Artemis?" A cautious, young voice cut through her internal misery. A quick glance showed it was Fergus, the pup staring at her with brows furrowed in confusion. "What are you doing? Angemon just said she was merely tired. Your human's going to be okay." The rest of the group was on standby, waiting for Angemon to give the go ahead to move them all. Angemon himself was inspecting the final person there, a strange Wanyamon who, judging from the reactions of the townsfolk, was a complete stranger who had showed up from complete nowhere.

Artemis lifted her head slowly. For a moment,  _anger_  made her normally dully red eyes burn vibrant for a moment or two. Then they inexplicably softened as she turned back to Sayo, still listening close. "For one, I did not hear that." Her normally dry voice seemed to shiver somewhat. "And number two,  _that_  furball over there was a Grizzmon who wanted her to go  _kill all of you_ , so I'm not gonna just listen to the good doctor over there anyway. Took all of the human noodles to do that once. She just did it all by herself." Her ears swirled as she straightened up again. "I don't like it."

"You don't like much," Falcor commented, seemingly oblivious to the mood. Or maybe he wasn't. Artemis assumed he wasn't. That cub was anything but stupid. Artemis smirked.

"It's why I'm the oldest one of the eggs, catnip." She walked over to the Wanyamon and picked him up, scrutinizing him with care. "His name is Pete," she decided. "He's a refugee, fell on hard times. Got sick. Now he's better. That's what we're telling him."

"Again with the noodles. Seriously, why?" Niko grumbled from somewhere off to the side. No one paid attention.

"Because you have all the muscle of a ramen cup," Rina chirped, finally looking away from Koh. The boy's expression was decidedly blank as he sat beside his sister. He wasn't looking at Sayo much at all. Instead, he was scrutinizing the device in her hand. His ruby red eyes were narrowed with intensity. "I'm more stocky than you." Which was easy to tell even with her baggy sweater.

"Yeah, yeah. So you say." Niko squinted at his friend. Rina squinted right back, smiling at him all the while.

"I don't have a name." Monodramon sat up, looking at Artemis with the same large, innocent adoring eyes that he usually reserved for Sayo. It was hilarious how that made the fur of her large, purple ears stand on end. "Can I have a name, too?"

"Oh my goodness." Taiga could hear Keren say under her breath. She'd caught sight of the adorable eyes of the little dragon and was trying to pointedly  _not_  look now so she didn't melt over it. She was settled near Sayo instead, looking at her in concern. She seemed not to notice her brother's expression, or lack thereof."

Artemis forced her fur to flatten. She was not going to snap at who was essentially a baby. She had been very good about that so far. She regarded him with a twitch of her mouth. She could not give him one. She still remembered his sick commentary after all. However...

_"Just wait until they hatch."_

_"I wasn't exactly thinking about heirs yet Artie."_

_"Well, neither was I, but Matching happens. What do you think we should call them?"_

Artemis exhaled deeply before she spoke, banishing her memories with a breath. "Taaveti," she told the purple dragon, eyes stern. "Dearly loved. Treasure it, you little derp."

"I will! Thank you!" Monodramon's eyes were bright at the new name for himself, sounding so happy and excited. He began to sound the name off in his head so he could memorize it.

"Well now, if you're all quite done," Jijimon began. He began to wave at everyone, the crowd and the kids both. "If all the girl needs is rest, she should go get some. You kids take her back to my home to put her to bed. Unless there's anything the good doctor would need to keep an eye on her for?"

Angemon shook his head."Nothing that a good night's rest and a big breakfast when she wakes up can't cure, no."

"Well then, there you have it. The kids go back to my home and tend to their own, and the rest of you get back to what you were doing." Jijimon began to disperse the crowd. "Nothing more to see here, you lot."

"Jijimon!" Falcor wagged his tail. "Can I go on patrol?"

"Can you go snooze you mean?" Ivy muttered. Falcor gave her ears a playful swipe. Yuugo raised an eyebrow at his partner, baffled. Active duty. Him? He had been glued to Yuugo for days and now he was done? But then, he probably knew his human wouldn't leave Sayo's side without a crane now.

Artemis gave the doctor another look and then shook her head. "Taaveti, come on. We don't want to leave her behind, right?" She took little Pete into her arms too. He didn't seem to react at all beyond a pleased sigh at not touching cold dirt anymore.

Rina suddenly shifted to the side. "We're supposed to be the chosen humans, right, Jijimon?" Her smile twitched. "Are we the only humans in this world?" She looked at Mirei now, who shrank back. However, it wasn't out of fear. It was to coil up, hands raised as if to fight. "I mean, the little girl down there isn't the only human left here, is she?" She moved her body again. Her nostrils flared a little.

Jijimon considered Rina for a moment, stroking his beard. The crowd was all finally leaving them be, going one by one back to their own business. After a moment he finally replied, "You lot have been the first semi-decent group of humans File has seen in decades. There are other humans in this world, but their numbers are dwindled due to the Dark Masters. And none on File."

The other, awake children, seemed stricken. The smile slid off Rina's face, replaced with a dull expression that would be vaguely familiar to Taiga and Niko both. "Ah." She rubbed the side of her head. "That's disappointing. They'd have been helpful. Oh well." She jerked a thumb. "Let's get Sayocchi back, shall we? We're pretty exposed." Her expression didn't change during those few sentences, nor did her voice. Both were distinctly... Off, her voice like it was coming from somewhere other than her vocal cords, her face seeming to drag itself up from nothing in particular. "That must be my imagination then," she said to her hands and to V.V, who twitched like a cat.

"R-right." Taiga finally went to do what was suggested to him without complaint. He gently bent to scoop Sayo into his arms, hefting her gently. Taiga paused after doing so. She was so  _light._ Sure, she wasn't as light as Mirei, but it was close!

Sayo relaxed, curling slightly against him and almost throwing poor Taiga off-balance as she adjusted. Light though she may have been, it was still awkward to pick up someone who was moving, especially considering she had passed out moments ago. Yuugo muffled a snort.

"So, wait, if there are other humans here, why were we chosen again?" Niko asked, somewhat incredulous. After all, there were people established to already have stakes for saving this world now. Why them, if so?

"Same reason why there are no humans on File." Jijimon answered, matter of factly. "The Dark Masters. They crippled and all but destroyed them and their ability to fight for a long while."

"They'd need about five more years from now for there to be kids remotely old enough to be told to kill things and self-preserving enough to do it." Rina's voice sounded slightly more normal, albeit drier than usual. "Nine if you want to be safe." She was still glancing behind her every minute or so. Irritation creased her forehead.

Niko muttered under his breath, seemingly mollified.

* * *

It wasn't long until they were back in Jijimon's hut. Jijimon still had things to do in the village so he left soon after they got back. This time the leader of the city didn't leave them unattended; a rather bored, green-skinned man with a metal face, red hair and green skin was sitting out on the front porch, scraping a whetstone across the large blade of his oversized axe. Taiga had placed Sayo onto the bed this time, tucking her in gently. He was still sweating over the fact she had gotten  _so comfortable_  with him like that while bringing her back here. He still wasn't paying attention to the smug look Niko directed his way over the inner panic he had at a girl cuddling against him in her sleep. Payback was just desserts in Niko's mind, even if Taiga didn't agree. Sayo didn't mention anything about onii-chans in her sleep, after all. Which made things  _worse_  in his opinion.

Fergus had kept a close eye on both him and Artemis when they walked back. It was clear her behavior unnerved him. She was one of the older ones, and she'd never been  _attached_  to anyone before. She hardly ever acted as beat up about Dylas being taken from them, after all. Seeing her get worked up over the girl she  _didn't_  melt for when Sayo had first popped into her life made Fergus so confused. It was like she cared but was trying so hard not to care. It was an odd dichotomy that hurt his brain.

Yuugo was still containing his own laughter, just barely. When she woke up, she was getting a good smack once he was sure she was okay physically and emotionally, or at least well enough to fake it for a little while longer.

Sayo herself seemed to resist being put down at first before rolling off of her own accord, curling up on her left side and breathing gently into the pillow. Mirei watched this for a while. Then she cautiously climbed up and crawled beside her. One, because she wanted the bed and two, she was constantly at a cool temperature, so she would keep Sayo comfortable. To her own surprise, she didn't tense up when one of Sayo's arms subconsciously draped over her. In fact, it was almost nostalgic in a way. She leaned into it. Monodramon bounced up onto the bed, following after his hero. He wormed his way under Sayo's other arm and laid there, tail flopping about happily.

Taiga found himself trying not to make a sound at the unbridled cuteness of the tiny Sayo cuddling with an even tinier Mirei. He failed; he let out the softest of choked sounds, having to back off and look away. For once, cute things had broken him. As he went off to sit a corner, pulling out his gameboy to try and regain some measure of calm by blasting things in his favorite Godzilla game on his brick.

Yuugo gave up and sat down to hold his ribs and laugh. Honestly, these poor sods had no idea who they were dealing with.

Artemis had not let go of the baby Wanyamon and wasn't even looking at the younger Digimon in general. The curl on her head twitched slightly as she settled in the space left by the two girls. She absently, almost gently, was stroking the top of its furry head. She looked around the room until her eyes settled on Fergus, unreadable but daring. "What do you want?" she asked him, voice already disinterested in what he was going to say.

Fergus didn't flinch at Artemis' tone - in fact, his eyebrows merely quirked. After a moment he shrugged. "Nothing. Just because I'm looking doesn't mean I want anything. Calm down and drink some water or something, yeesh." He went over to his human's side, flopping against him and watching him play his game.

Artemis let out a tisk. "Taavati," she said quietly. "Don't jump about so much. They need rest." She quirked an eyebrow and flicked a set of bubbles to smack into Fergus, even from this distance. "Brat." She knew perfectly well why he was looking. And he wouldn't get the typical things that he wanted. It wasn't his responsibility. He was a Chosen Digimon. He had enough to deal with.

All these brats did.

"S'rry." The Monodramon replied, before falling silent in the cuddle he was in with Sayo. It didn't take long for his eyes to close as he began to snooze comfortably. Fergus, meanwhile, gave an indignant bark, drenched by the water bubble. Taiga would have laughed at the absolutely hilarious image in front of him of a drenched puppy whose fluffy fur was now clinging to his body. He looked like a drowned rat. Unfortunately, Taiga had to hop away so he didn't get wet too and ruin his handheld system.

Artemis smirked, seemingly back to normal. She shut her eyes herself, but she remained awake, continuing to pet the sleeping furry head. Yuugo finally managed to get a hold of himself and leaned peacefully back against the bed.

Rina nudged Niko, all smiles again. This time, however, it was visibly flimsy. Whenever any of the others looked away, it dropped into that same impassive blankness from before. It was almost like exhaustion. Niko shook his head, amused by all of this. For once,  _he_  wasn't the one being singled out to be embarrassed by the others, or beset upon by cute things. He turned to Rina, about to say something, but paused. He poked her right in the side, surprised when she flinched in return. He was even more so surprised she even  _let_  him get that far. "You okay?" He asked quietly.

Rina's eyes flicked from a strange dull color back to normal, pupils and all. "Something's not right," she said after a moment, as though too surprised to lie. "I keep sensing something... someone." She thought and picked her nails before answering again. "I dunno how to explain it but Digimon feel... buzzy. Like the sound of the fire alarm. Something feels murky... squiggly. Like us." She wasn't explaining it well, but the full answer wouldn't make sense. Nor would it be the full answer.

It did not help that she felt that Koh kid staring at her.

Keren was the only one who noticed the way Koh stared at her older friend, standing next to him while holding Dolce in her arms. She pursed her lips at him and took one of her hands to reach over and pinch her brother's cheek. His gaze kept wandering. She knew he was a boy but  _seriously,_  even as socially stunted as they were this was rude. "Stop staring at Rina-senpai's butt, otouto." She told him gently.

"Why?" he asked absently, as though he hadn't heard the question. Then he blinked and shook his head, watching Rina seem to subconsciously straighten up. She looked a little taller. "I can't see her butt. Her back's bent odd, and her eyes are funny. Human eyes don't lose their pupils like that."

"You had wandering eyes." Keren said after a moment. She thought she'd been the only one to see it, but now that he mentioned it... "But you're right. They don't."

Koh tilted his head. "Mm." He grimaced. "And she doesn't walk right. Like, I saw it. That's not how people run. She moves her weight differently. Like, so she's faster."

Keren bit her lip, looking at Rina now, watching her careful shift from foot to foot. He was right. Rina did move differently. And from what she understood, despite looking so willowy, she was able to carry both Niko and Taiga's heavy packs without losing any speed, without any effort. Rina was an anomaly, yes, but... "It's helped us." Keren said after a moment. "Without her, we'd be dead."

Koh nodded absently again. Then he looked over at her fully, his own red eyes widening a fraction. "What."

Keren stared right back at her brother, surprised by that tone. Her brother didn't emote much, but she swore she heard quite a bit of surprise and incredulity in it. Enough it was interesting the other boys pretty well. She gently took her brother by the hand and led him over to a corner, biting her lip again. She leaned in close to him, and began to speak, "Things have been rough, Koh. We didn't know what we were getting into here, but soon after we met the Digimon we were beset upon by a giant lion zombie man thing that knew Mirei-chan somehow..." With that, Keren began to quietly tell her brother of everything that had happened so far. Everything. The close calls, the battle in front of the house, how they met Taavati, the battle with the giant golden beetle man thing after that, the training they had to do to make sure they would be prepared for more fights like that. It hadn't been a fun time here. Of course, she knew Koh was protective of her. She knew this. Her brother loved her and she loved him. It was how siblings worked. But, of course, emoting was just never a thing for her brother beside gentle seeming smiles and a slight twinkle of mischief in his eyes when he used to put whoopie cushions under their parents' rumps just as they began to sit down on chairs. She didn't expect the way his red eyes to narrow and for how one of his hands tightened. He looked both angry and _resolute_. Keren wasn't sure she liked seeing either emotion on her brother's face.

The narrowed eyes looked her over with a sudden, new intensity, like someone seeing a new person for the first time. Then his whole body eased back into blankness, even his eyes softening back to themselves. Then, with a singular, heavy breath, he threw his arms around her, close and tight. "'m glad you're okay," he mumbled into her shoulder. "You're so reckless sometimes. You'd have walked into it if you didn't know better."

This was something that was more like her brother. It still worried her that she had seen such emotions on his face and in his eyes, but she could look past it for now. How could she not expect her brother to grow concerned and angry over what they'd all had to face? Being chosen to save this world, seeing death and pain and suffering at every turn? All of the ugliness that went on in their own world that they were comfortably kept away from in their cities of concrete and glass. Her brother was human, after all. It was only natural for him to have such feelings. Keren hugged her brother right back as Dolce squirmed out from between them, slipping to come onto Keren's shoulder. The girl sniffled softly, trying not to cry at the care and love that came from this tight embrace. "About as reckless as you being here... I don't know how you came here, but it's much more dangerous here for you than me." She managed a smile. "I have Dolce to protect me. I have the others to help me, and me them. We're all in this together... But I don't think you were chosen like I was for this, and have a partner waiting."

Koh squeezed her again. "Maybe not..." He leaned back a little to look at her. "But I'm here right? And I'm smart. I've been good at keeping safe so far... All those monsters out there. I think I'm lucky so far. Maybe something will happen. Maybe something good." He hugged her again, looking Dolce right in the face. "Besides, I'm here with you. I know we'll make it work." He smiled a little now. "Besides, you freak out too much. Someone's gotta keep you calm."

Niko looked at Rina quietly for a moment, not knowing what to say or how to process what she said. He pursed his lips, before tentatively reaching out to put his hand on her shoulder. Once more he was surprised when she didn't avoid the touch or bop his hand away. Unlike with Taiga, she didn't like it when  _he_  touched her. Not that he did it often. That dream (memory?) was always in the back of his mind whenever he thought about it.

Rina looked at Niko with confusion. Her gaze went from his hand to his face, clearly baffled. She opened her mouth, perhaps to make a joke. Then a loud, indignant squawk of a voice ran through the room. "The blood's in my head! Stop! Stop!" Rina darted away too fast for it to be remotely natural, bounding towards the great thing in front of the door.

The sound of someone speaking other than the small group had all of the kids still awake pausing, though Niko was the only one to follow Rina, with V.V. and Sashenka right behind him. What he saw from over Rina's shoulder at the door was the big, green-skinned man standing up from the stairs was  _another human girl_  hanging from one of his great, meaty ham-hands by both her legs. Niko's deadpan expression was perfectly telling of what he thought.  _Another one. What the hell Jijimon?_

"Not gonna stop 'til ya tell me why you tried to distract me by tossing a pebble past me and tryin'a sneak into the house, kiddo." The green giant spoke, his voice a deep rumble that reminded the gathered group of a certain grumpy goblin.

"I had to see! Someone... someone's here to-" The girl, whoever she was, stopped flailing to peer around the great beast of a man. Her blue eyes, fiery with indignation, immediately sftened and she waved excitedly. "Rina! Aneki! Ri-nee!"

Rina's red eyes widened. "I knew it! Dory!" Genuine surprise and delight filled her as she went to squeeze through the opening. "Heyyyy, mister can you put her down? I'll look after her!" Relief and fear washed over her in twitchy waves. It was too good to be true, too much like a happy ending.

'Dory' waved her arms. "You heard her big fella! Put me down!"

The great big green man sniffed for a moment, before casually tossing this 'Dory' into the air. She wheeled about almost effortlessly, looking like she was about to land on the ground after spinning for a few seconds. However, he caught the girl gently by the back of her shirt with his thumb and forefinger before setting her gently on the ground by her feet. "Don't do anything I wouldn't, kiddos." He grumbled.

"That leaves a whole host of things," 'Dory' said with a smirk. Then, she spun about and crashed into Rina. It made a strange clanging sound, but it went ignored at Rina's pause. Thin pale arms wrapped around her but Rina did not react.

Slowly, mechanically, Rina pulled her close. "Dory,", she mumbled. "You're alive. In here."  _"I'm alive_?" Dory squeaked, squeezing her tighter. "You, you of all people shouldn't have worried! It's you I was scared for!"

Rina opened her mouth, then closed it, squeezing her eyes shut and continuing the hug. "'m sorry." Then, slowly, she let the other girl go. " _How._ " That one word carried weight. It made the other girl pause.

"How what?" Her voice was disturbing cheerful.

"How are you here, Dorothy?" She was feeling so many other things but she had to project her concern most of all. "How are you holding up? How..." Something in Rina seemed to cave in. "How are you handling it?"  _How are you alive all by yourself? For so long?_

Dorothy smiled at her, eyes sparkling. "I'm fine! I'm here, aren't I?"

Rina narrowed her eyes. "Liar."

Dorothy giggled. "Yep. Not as good as you though." Rina did not answer this but her lips twitched.

"Rina?" Niko asked gently. He sounded so odd right now, it had Sashenka look at him in concern. Niko looked and sounded confused and suspicious of this new arrival. Especially so soon after the arrival of Keren's brother, who was in this world for some reason. "Who is this?" Niko didn't really like being suspicious of people who he had just met and obviously meant a lot to Keren and Rina (especially Rina, who as far as he and Taiga both knew had been completely alone), but both of them showing up so soon after the other, especially after Sayo had been  _attacked_  was making red flags shoot up in his mind for whatever reason. He wasn't sure why, but something about the way Koh carried himself was making Niko ansty. Especially when it came to how nonchalant he was about being in a foreign world full of aliens.

Rina looked at Niko and for the first time since they had met her, she didn't have an answer of any kind. She simply looked away, down at the girl, or more accurately, her shoes. Her fingers wrapped around the other's hand as if searching for a lifeline. She opened her mouth and still didn't manage to make proper sounds for a moment. "Dorothy... she's my-"

"Cousin!" Dorothy finished with a bright, exuberant smile. "I'm her cousin! I've been looking for her here for so long! I wasn't allowed to come to this island before! It was too dangerous. But one day we all saw it!" She waved her hands. "That giant bright light! And I knew she had to be here! She's where all the action is! So I snuck from that place and got a ride! I was super lucky!" Her eyes suddenly narrowed, as if seeing them for the very first time. "And who are  _you_  weirdoes?"

"We're her friends." Taiga answered as Niko  _bristled_  at the (admittedly very rude) way she had referred to him and Niko. "She's been with us for a while now. She never told us about you." Taiga tilted his head, looking at Dorothy with curious eyes. He had been far too used to being called names that they never bothered him much anymore. One perk of being a street urchin, you never really cared what people called you after a while. "How were you in this world when Rina was with us?"

Dorothy blinked, clearly baffled. Then she looked at Rina. "You have friends now?"

Rina twitched, a twitch all up both arms. "Yeah." Her lips quirked. "I got lucky."

Dorothy's expression, shadowed from the side, softened in the strangest way. "You did. That's good." Then she looked at Taiga, full on, ice blue eyes almost seeming to glow. "I don't know. I've been looking for an answer to that. We hadn't been next to each other when we were separated. But... that day... the-"

" _Dory._ " Rina's voice popped like a gunshot, cutting her off.

Dorothy glanced at Rina, at the way her mouth had thinned to a line. Then she shrugged. "Yeah. It's not important. We're both not alone anymore. That's what matters." A pout crossed her face. "Though she could have mentioned me once! We could have found each other so much sooner."

Rina smiled now herself, the one that Taiga and Niko were familiar with. "There's no way to put you into words."

Dorothy puffed out her chest. "Oh trust me, I know."

Taiga opened his mouth to ask another question (which was probably good as anyone else asking, like Niko, seemed like it would happen badly), and then, something a distance away, exploded. The sound and wind woke up everyone except Sayo. Mirei trembled in her arms. and everyone hit the deck. Taiga couldn't even think to pull her close and reassure her, but it didn't seem to matter. Artemis perched on top of the headboard. Her small hands spread wide and water expanded from them, spreading over the windows and out any gap and even, to the surprised grunt of their guard outside, beyond him until it stopped and trembled.

The Digimon peeked their eyes open. Sashenka gaped outright. "How did you-"

"Shut up," the rabbit said with a grunt. "I'm no Royal Guard, but even this isn't too impossible." She slowly lowered her arms. "I dunno how long it'll last though. So everyone get on the floor." Sweat dripped down her forehead as she gave the Monodramon a gentle nudge. "Hey, beeper, get the kids to the floor."

Taavati, once awake, was only too happy to obey, satisfied with the idea of protecting his hero.

"So, what now?" Koh of all people asked.

Artemis shivered, eyes narrowed as she looked at the remains of the windows. "All of you sleep. While you can. When it's over, we have to run. This is a raid."

The very idea of going to stop the raiders vanished at the way the new girl made a distinct, awful sound of fear. She latched onto Rina with a sudden intensity and Rina let her, eyes strangely blank once more.

With two of their team now really out for the count, it seemed that they wouldn't be going anywhere.

* * *

Eventually, the barrier fell, splashing to the ground in time with Artemis falling facefirst onto Sayo's stomach. The girl shifted and rolled around her, curling her close. Artemis, though no one was awake to see it, was much too tired to protest. She simply fell asleep there. This motion woke Mirei up from her tense, half-doze. She rolled slowly onto all fours. Ivy made no reaction, but Rue sat up at the sight of her. Her stubby tail wagged. Mirei made herself smile.

Then, pain laced across her chest, horribly familiar. She trembled and nearly hit the floor. Her dark face glistened with sweat as her body tried not to heave what she had eaten earlier. She clenched on hand over her chest, the other into a fist. She dug her feet into the floor. She was in the Digital World. She was right here, with her fellow Chosen.

And yet-

Pitch-black water washed over her ankles. And yet she heard mournful sobs in the air and a tolling bell. The sand plunged into her boots and-

A clammy hand touched her shoulder. Mirei jumped and latched to the wall, somehow not waking anyone in the process.

Her eyes settled on Koh, who stared at her with bright, crimson eyes that she thought glowed in the dark of the night. His blank face gave away nothing, but the trembling of his arm did. "You okay?" he asked softly.

Mirei, still in shock, still  _terrified_ , shook her head no.

Koh nodded, lowering his hand. "Me either. Want some air?"

Mirei slowly slid to the floor. She hesitated. The air was quiet now, but it wasn't the quiet she liked. Still, if she stayed here, she would continue to hear the ringing of the bell. She nodded and took his hand.

Koh grimaced. "Your hand is freezing."

Mirei did manage a tremulous smile at that. Or at him having an expression. He couldn't tell.

They went outside, into the silent streets. Rue trotted after them, Ivy placed where Mirei had slept because she simply wouldn't wake. Though, Mirei noticed, even silence had a sound, a ringing noise that trembled in her ears. Like the bell. Like that bell and the thing beyond it-

"Hey." Koh's voice startled her from her thoughts. "You're drowning."

Mirei looked at him, struggling through the waves. He kept a hold of her hand until they were sitting outside what might be Tanemon's Meat Field. Then he sat down, pulling her with him. The dirt squirmed beneath her free hand and it was as thin and gritty as sand-

His hand left hers, settling on her far shoulder instead. He leaned Mirei against him so casually.

"Nee-san needs this a lot," he said, waiting for her breathing to soften, to slow. "She overreacts to everything, so I try to do this after our parents run her through the wringer. I guess you need it too, huh?"

Mirei looked down at Rue, who was resting her oversized head on her lap. "'m sorry," she murmured. "It's my fault."

"It's the fault of whoever told you that you had to do this, really." Koh exhaled softly. "But I'm sorry too."

Mirei looked at him with curiosity. "For what?"

Koh smiled, and Mirei tilted her head. He looked so sad, all of a sudden. It pulled reality back to her in an awkward tug. "For a lot of things." His arm on her shoulder was so relaxed, but his face was not. "But, most of all, for what I'm about to ask you. I need your help with something and it's really important, more than anyone here probably understands."

His grip tightened and he leaned over and whispered into her ear. Mirei felt her blood run cold.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took two hours to edit. Because Discord sucks to write on. Also, did I mention we had some plot up in here? At long god dang last. We are getting to that point that I was waiting for! Also, this will have a sequel! Because trying to write all four arcs of 01 as we planned them, in one fic with chapters going like this? Hah, not gonna happen. So we're plotting Enduring to complete at 25-26 chapters and then the sequel should be up. Onix might be there! We haven't decided. Anyway, Onix, what do you have to say?
> 
> Onixflame: Beware our insanity.
> 
> I dunno why he keeps telling you this you should already know. Anyway, until next time!


	16. Something Cast Aside

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning for violence, creepy children, war.

Sashenka had dreams. Out of everyone, perhaps because he was one of the youngest, he dreamed of losing Dylas the most.

He remembered the storm of it. Days after their chief had declared war on the outside world (a proclamation that only now disturbed him), there had been a storm of great rage. To his then Wanyamon self it had felt like such. So cold and rainy, even though everything had started off bright and sunny and warm. They had been playing. Well, most of them had been playing. Artemis had been healing V.V again, residing under the shade of a tree That itself had been strange, but then he always wandered off on his own and got into something. And Fergus... Digimaru then, had been brawling with Tyrone again. It was nothing new. The two babies had gotten into it since hatching. And then Dylas, dear big brother Dylas, had shown up, picked the two of them up with his small red paws, and dropped them in the nearest cold patch of water. At the time, it had been hilarious.

"You two are going to make Swanmon molt all of her featheres," he had chided, and not for the first time either. Dolce had snorted from her vantage point on his head and he had flicked water on her in return. "Don't you make it worse! What will their partners think, seeing them like that?"

"Don' got a partner," Tyrone's squeaky voice sputtered. "Don't need one neither!"

"You're too  _annoying_  to get one!" Digimaru said with such a flurry, making every one of Tyrone's furs bristle. "You big baby!"

Looking back, Sashenka realized, it had all been so  _stupid_.

Having a human or not having one had made no difference in the end. That storm, that inhuman storm had just swept in with a small army in tow and all of their screaming hadn't stopped Dylas from going away. Not even Fergus had done that.

In fact, all his best friend had done was make things  _worse._

* * *

Not for the first time, though perhaps the first time in a while, Taiga woke with a  _start_. It took him a moment to actually wake up, blinking sleep from his eyes. These were instinct he hadn't needed for a long time and had only caused him trouble for what seemed like so long ago. He rubbed his eyes, peering around, wondering what woke him up. He realized it was the  _silence_. They had been in the middle of a raid, why were things so silent now? Why wasn't Artemis' barrier up? What was going on?

It made him get up to investigate if only to make sure things were okay for everyone. His movements were so quiet it didn't even shake the creaky floorboards. This was borne of skill he had developed from months of being alone, of not having someone to rely on, before he knew the Japanese language as well as he did. Taiga moved so quietly it didn't even stir Rina or V.V, both of whom probably the most alert people there. They were curled up with the new girl in a corner, and after a short glance he moved on.

This 'Dory' still gave him the willies. It was just so odd - why hadn't Rina ever told them she had a cousin? Why did she show up now? He knew Rina had been a found child like him, but the fact Dorothy was in this world while Rina was on Earth... What in the world had happened? Not to mention Rina being so familiar with her partner... There were a lot of things she hadn't told him.

It told him how much she trusted them to be so secretive. Unlike Niko, he didn't mind. There were some things he didn't like to talk about either. Like his growing recollection of things before he had woken up one day in an alley somewhere in Kyoto. Before Ms. Teresa found him and brought him home. Before Niko and his father had become such fixtures in his life.

How everything here seemed so familiar and yet so different from the faded images flashing constantly in his mind.

Eventually, his search made him come back to where he'd started. He had settled near where Sayo and Mirei had laid their heads. Niko, Sashaenka, Yuugo, Falcor, Artemis, Monodramon- Taavati, the little guy had a name now, right- 'Pete', Fergus and Ivy were all settled. The only ones that weren't in sight were Mirei, Koh and Rue.

Taiga wasn't sure  _why_ , but that sent a heavy ball of ice settling in his stomach.

Taiga began to hurry, that horrible feeling spurring him into action. He thumped Niko awake and shushed him, motioning around to silently indicate how quiet things were, that three people were missing in action and to go wake up the others with him. Niko nodded after a moment, the familiar atmosphere waking him up almost instantly. He woke Sashenka first, before moving on to Yuugo. Niko shushed him as well while Taiga went on to Falcor. The cub swiped at him for being woken up in the middle of the night, though Taiga was swift enough to make sure he wasn't even grazed. The group went on from there until only Sayo, Artemis, Pete, Rina, Ivy, V.V., Keren, Dolce and Dorothy were the only ones still asleep. After doing roshambo for it, Taiga was tasked with waking Rina up, since she never reacted as extreme with him doing something like that with anyone else. Yuugo would wake up Sayo and her partner, knowing them the best. Niko got Keren.

Taiga was the first to go to the girls. He gently tapped Rina on the head and ducked away, just in case. You never could tell with that girl's reactions.

To his possible surprise, Rina did not respond at all. In fact, her head lolled on her shoulders and she didn't make a sound. Dorothy did, however, a knife flying towards his face. V.V. grabbed it from the air and put it gently on the ground. Dorothy's eyes seemed to shine with annoyance before she pulled away from Rina. She gave the girl's hand a squeeze. Rina didn't react to this.

"What." The girl's chipper voice had gone flat, even as V.V went to gently wake Rina himself.

Sayo was surprisingly easier to wake, curling around Taavati before stretching. Yuugo whispered in her ear before she nodded, eyes going wide. She moved to hug Artemis to herself, letting the rabbit sleep. For some reason, she was going to assume it was well-deserved.

Falcor huffed in irritation before padding over to the monster outside. Surely they could just ask the giant bodyguard what had happened, right?

"We're down three. And it's too quiet." Niko reported. Taiga wasn't even phased by the knife, though Niko knew he normally would have been. He was quickly going into panic mode over Mirei being gone. Along with Koh and Rue but Niko knew it was over Mirei. Niko, for once, agreed. "We're waking everyone up to get ready. We need to look for them and maybe prepare to run."

As Taiga backed off and began to quietly pace in the room, looking more agitated by the moment, Niko gently shook Keren awake. The girl curled in on herself before stretching, looking up at Niko questioningly. The boy merely repeated what was said. That had her waking up completely almost immediately, gently picking Dolce up from where she lay next to her.

Sayo sat there and listened with one ear to Falcor chat at the guard. "And where would we start in the dark?" Dorothy deadpanned, ignoring the curious look the now awake girl gave her. "I don't think anyone here has night vision or has memorized the layout of the island. Besides, didn't that pup stay near one of them? Aren't they safer that way?" She rubbed her eyes, glancing at Rina's still limp form.

Sayo tilted her head cautiously to the right. "We need to scout out a good place to run to if we want to run." Her voice was tired but mild, and she didn't even seem to recall being unconscious or the reason for her unconscious state in the first place.

"I can see in the dark," Sashenka stated. "I think most of us Digimon here can."

Niko nodded at him, then looked at Dorothy with squinted eyes. "Besides, we're all in this together. We can't just have people running off alone like that. She should have gotten one of us with another Digimon to go with her, especially one that can do that transformation thing."

"I already explained that is called 'evolving', master..." Sashenka told him quietly.

"And I told you that was a crock of horse hockey." Niko pointed right back at him. "Evolution isn't an instantaneous transformation into a different or more robust form, that's either aging or metamorphosis. And even then that takes time and a lot of energy. What you did was pure magic, straight and simple." Sashenka wrinkled his nose at his human. Niko glared right back. "Don't give me that look. My dad's a scientist who majored in biology and evolutionary theory in his first year of college, I know my frickin' stuff."

As the two got into a quiet argument about this, Keren shifted slightly, biting her lip. Even though she knew this was serious, she also knew Mirei was out there with her brother. She doubted he'd be dumb enough to take them out to a place that wasn't safe; he was smarter than she ever could be, after all. "She's with my brother, so I think she should be safe..." She added her two cents.

"But what if she isn't?" Taiga asked, a little too fast. His Japanese was slipping and being mixed with an accent none in the room recognized. He spoke in a sort of hyperspeed, an odd reverberation happening in his voice because of it. "What if she isn't safe what if even Rue won't be enough she left Ivy here she should have both of them but she left with Koh-kun who shouldn't even be here he wasn't chosen-"

The rapid-fire got worse, almost too the point no one could understand him. Not if they could if they somehow recorded what he was saying; he was speaking in a completely different dialect than Japanese now. One that had all of the Digimon who had their wits about them staring at him in surprise.

The others were staring at him as well, each for different reasons. Then, in a low slur, Rina answered his hyperspeed in slow easy chitter sounds. She didn't even seem surprised to hear him. All of the Digimon turned to stare at her now and only got a bleary shrug. "You're noisy," she said to Taiga, staring at him with disinterest. "And panicking. And therefore unhelpful." She yawned. "Sit down."

Dorothy continued to stare at Taiga, positively wide-eyed. Then she scowled, putting her hands on her hips. So we've got idiots who can see in the dark and someone who panic attacks out of their own ecosystem." She ran her hands through her hair. "I'll go look, since none of you batty nuts trust me anyway. Won't lose anything if I go."

Rina did not respond to this, only making herself get up sleepily. She made another noise at Taiga, completely unconcerned. "If you don't calm down, we're leaving you here," she finally said.

Taiga stared right back at Rina with wide eyes, having paused mid-step in wearing a groove in Jijimon's floor. He eventually came to stand at attention, waiting to get moving.

Niko came up to his side the same time as Fergus did, still staring up at his partner. The pup looked like he was starting to realize something, too. The blond put a hand on Taiga's shoulder, though it didn't draw Taiga's attention from being fixated on their green-haired friend.

"Taiga?" He asked, almost hesitant. "I think I'm gonna be asking the obvious here, but what did you mean by 'Koh wasn't chosen'?"

Taiga snapped his eyes to Niko and, for a moment, Niko thought Taiga's eyes were the ones glowing this time. Like Rina's did sometimes. It was especially apparent in the dark and almost made Niko want to jerk away, feeling almost like the gaze was burning into him. After Taiga blinked it went away, making Niko feel like every time he saw Rina do it; like it might have just been a figment of his imagination. He desperately hoped it was.

"It is obvious," Taiga said after a moment. He was still speaking fast, but not nearly as quick as he had been before. He was obviously trying to stay calm this time. "He didn't have a Digivice. He didn't have a partner. He wasn't chosen. And even though we were chosen, it was Mirei's uncles who sent us here. So thus, why is he  _here_?"

The question hung in the quiet of the cabin for a moment. Keren didn't know she was squeezing Dolce so hard until the hamster squirmed out of her arms to crawl onto her shoulder. She looked at Keren with concern, patting her face. Keren didn't notice that she was starting to shake a little at the question, at the thoughts now taking residence. She'd had the very same question, but she'd put it on the backburner. She'd meant to ask Koh how he'd gotten there, of course, but she had been interrupted and Koh's mere comforting presence afterward had lulled the thought even farther back. But now, it was coming back full force. With what Taiga was saying, it was all starting to look very damning. Yet, it couldn't be. Not her brother. Not her little brother who sat up with her when enough questions on the paper were wrong, who actually let her try and try.

"The only reason I can think," Taiga started up again, not letting her thoughts settle in the least, "He either came here from a freak accident. Or, more damningly, he came here because of a deal with the denizens of this world. Either way, it's all too convenient and now Mirei is gone with him." Niko pursed his lips, thinking it over. It did make sense. He had the same thought, too, even if it was a little more... Well, it definitely wouldn't make Keren happy to hear it. Though he had to add his own two cents in.

"... Considering everything you just said," He began, "I think, he might have gotten here due to those jerks, whatever they're called. Those Empire loonies. He had been sent in by them as well, to try and take us down from within."

"No!" Keren nearly shouted. Dolce nearly fell off her shoulder from the volume. "He couldn't! He can't! He'd never willingly work for them! He's too smart and kind to fall for whatever they'd try to sell him!"

Taiga turned to her now. The expression on his face was disquieting, in that it was blank. Even Rina seemed a little concerned about it. "I don't know him for as long as you have, Keren-chan." His words were slower, more careful now. "But because I haven't, I have a more fresh perspective on him than you do. He might have been hiding what he's truly like from you. Or maybe he just got such a good offer he couldn't refuse it. But either way, no matter how he got here, his appearance is far too fortuitous. Your brother being found by Rina, in his state? Digimon are much stronger than us, Keren-chan, you know that. He'd have been broken and not merely injured if this wasn't planned. I've seen far too many plots like this in anime and manga to not think it's not happening here."

"B-but that's anime and manga!" Keren retorted. Tears were gathering in her eyes now. She had been so good about that. At least she took solace in that they were angry tears this time. "How can you say that about him, especially when you don't know him like I have or when he isn't here to defend himself!?"

"He isn't here to defend himself. That's the problem." Taiga replied. That took most of the wind from her sails. He wasn't done, either. "And life mimics art, Keren-chan. The reason people do that in those is because they happen in real life. I can't discount this like you can because of that."

The house was very quiet. Then Sayo spoke up from her spot on the bed. "All this speculation about Koh-kun and likely this new person is... probably needed, but..." She looked at them all with curiosity. "Is, well, is this really the time to be talking about this? Couldn't we just ask the guy in front of the door to help us? Or wake up Ivy, who knows her friends' scents better than any of us? And then we could see for ourselves." Said She bit her lip before continuing. "None of this is getting anywhere except at ourselves, and the enemy would prefer that condition more than anything else."

"Which I did ask, since no one else did!" Falcor said from the doorway. "They went towards the Meat Farm! The ice princess apparently needed some air, according to Mister Frank!"

Dorothy tilted her head very suddenly to the right after he spoke, almost in mimicry to Rina, who was looking towards the window.

The sound the two of them had started to pay attention to was quiet compared to the noise of the argument on their other side, but the distinct weight of the footsteps was hard to ignore. And there were a fair few of them. Low rumbles of voices soon became audible, followed by the weight of a heavy weapon moving as their guard outside shifted up from his formerly relaxed defensive position as they moved closer.

Dorothy didn't tense and Rina wasn't sure she expected her to. She only narrowed her eyes and reached into her pocket. She was never so happy to find her fallen items as she was now.

"V.V." her voice was almost gentle. "Fight? Or negotiate?"

The little blue dragon sniffed. "Let's try talking first."

Rina nodded once.

Then, their guard's voice broke the outside silence.

"Dunno why ya'll decided to come here, but I suggest moving on, friends." Mister Frank said to the newcomers. The inside of the house was so quiet a pin dropping would be as loud as a gunshot. Everyone merely listened.

"You know why we're here.  _They_  are here." A loud, boisterous voice spoke up. "The little ones we got reports about. The chosen ones. The human children who can degenerate and evolve Digimon. Let us have them, darling, and you won't be hurt."

Niko felt Keren grab his arm, and he let her. The fear from her was palpable. The tenseness of the Digimon around them only made things worse for the children.

"No can do. I ain't about to let some people I don't know get the little ones I was assigned to protect from munchkins like you." Mister Frank replied. That should have comforted everyone. It didn't. "Why don't ya move on and pretend ya never found 'em? I don't wanna have to get physical."

"There are six of us and one of you." Another voice, snide and nasally, spoke up. "You can't hope to match us all. Give us the little ones. This is your last warning."

"Again. No can do." Mister Frank replied. "These kids ain't mine to give up. Wouldn't even give ya mine either. Now my last warning. Move on and forget yer mission. This won't end well for most of you even if I can't beat ya all. Can't afford that can ya?"

Artemis began to stir, what rest she had gotten not enough, but the voices woke her nevertheless. The Wanyamon made a tiny yawn in the silence. Sayo patted it on the head, face pallid. Artemis opened her eyes in the gloom and sniffed the air. She made a face of her own and slowly slid to the floor. Sayo made to grab her only to get ignored. Artemis crept towards the nearest window, a plan forming in her mind.

Sayo looked around, now fully able to understand the argument. The little one was gone. Mirei-chan. Her brain started to turn. So was another. They could worry about that later. What mattered now was making sure at least one person stayed out of their hands. Who knew what they would do to them? If that girl stayed out, it was likely she could pass on the message, get back up, even fight. They could not, not if those Digimon outside could feel confident threatening a big creature like Frank.

Rina very abruptly stood up, walking silently to the doorway. V.V. trailed after her. She was grinning wide for a moment and then with a heavy effort, her face sobered. They were obvious in here, sitting ducks, sitting ducks with such a big, powerful Digimon like a Boltmon standing guard. What else could be here? And their idea of fighting could get the house destroyed and everyone killed. She had to do something. "Mister Frank," she said softly. "Let me out please."

After all, as everyone was forgetting, she was here by chance. She could very well not be chosen at all herself, by Taiga's logic.

"Rina!" Niko hissed. He was surprised not only by this but by Taiga's outward lack of reaction. It was like there was some sort of switch flipped that turned him from the panicky, dorky, fun loving goof and made some stranger appear in his friend's clothes and skin. All the emotion drained from his face, making it look more like a mask. His skin looked almost like plastic it was so perfectly smooth. And Taiga's eyes… They seemed almost to be softly glowing, though if they were Niko was glad that at least they weren't like burning, red hot coals like Rina's could be sometimes. It was still disconcerting. Fergus was looking up at Taiga with the same worry Niko felt about that.

There was some uncertainty in the reply that came from Mister Frank, who sounded just as concerned as Niko felt, "You sure about that, missy? Got some costumers actin' tough out here, thinkin' numbers matter against me."

"Oh, yes, acting tough, it's not like half of us aren't taller than you are, green-man." That same snide voice replied.

"But ya sure ain't, shortstake." Came the immediate responce.

"Why, you-"

"Calm down." An authoritative voice spoke, cutting off the snide one. "He's trying to get you angry so you'll make a mistake."

"Well it's  _working_."

Sayo watched Rina nod. Then she glanced at the girl left where she had been. Her face was hard to see in the dark but she would know that emotion fairly well by the twist of her mouth: triumph.

Rina didn't look back, merely set her hands in her pockets. "Yep. I just want to talk to them. We don't need all this fighting, do we? We need these houses intact. I mean, they might not think so." Her lips quirked. "They're idiots though. And all they believe in is power. If they didn't, File would have been theirs already. Their poor king." She patted Mister Frank on the back. "Don't worry, the city needs you."(

"Why I oughtta-" The snide voiced one snarled, about to take a step foreward. The one that tried to pacify him before merely backhanded him in his noseless face and made him stumble back, holding it with two of his hands. "Ah what the hell!" He was some sort of forest sprite, wearing green armor and a familiar looking coned cap. He had a hole in his stomach area, where a massive quarrel (that is, the bolt of a crossbow or arbolest) resided. Around his waist was said arbolest, the curved wood going from his front to his back, connected to the firing mechanism via very strong looking cable. Another hand was on a long tail coming from behind him, one which was currently wigging out, its fingers flailing everywhere as he held his face in pain.

"We aren't here to cause a fight." The authoritative one reprimanded. "This place has seen enough of that, as the girl said. A lot of problems would have been averted if idiots like  _you_  hadn't tried to start all these unneeded conflict." This one was a large, very humanoid dragon-like beast. Dark red scales covered all of him, though it looked like he was wearing armor on some of his body, which seemed to perfectly blend into him. Large, dark spikes decorated him like intimidating badges of honor, though many of them resembled the spines and claws of both herbivorous and carnivorous dinosaurs. In many respects, it seemed almost like he was a little too hard to make himself seem more intimidating than he actually was. Then his yellow gaze turned back to Rina, cat-like eyes narrowing on his saurian head. Mister Frank still cautiously moved an arm in front of Rina to keep her from becoming a target. "Well then, little one. What is it you wish to talk about?"

Rina regarded them all as V.V slunk up beside her. He looked up himself, not intimidated by the strong, powerful likely high-leveled monsters in front of them. After a long breath, she looked up at each of them.

"Is there any benefit to taking us kids hostage?" She asked first. "We're not threats on our own. The only good I can see is preventing any more competition. However, at the moment, this island is fighting a losing battle and everyone here knows it. A few Digimon being able to evolve would not be enough to turn the tides of a grand war, even if they think so, right?. So, here's a theory!" She stepped closer to the dragon, eyes flickering with sudden mirth. "You all, as higher-ups, have partners right? This'd fit with what the commander up here said, you all have humans who can give you power and keep you going. Why else would you be so confident? Therefore, the only reason to desire anyone here is to have a monopoly on human power. This backwater country doesn't need it. So, you get us. Then what?"

She smiled now. "It's a good question. Wars end, violence and peace pass. What will this reign do once you have razed everyone against you to the ground?"

There was a brief moment of silence. You could hear Niko swear very quietly.

"We're soldiers, not governors." Another intimidating looking individual responded. Blade-like claws clicked in annoyance as the lanky, dark figure glared at Rina with red eyes that glowed like fire in the dark of the night. The silvery metals on the ribs and spikes of his armor gave him away only slightly, the dark purples on the rest of him. "We don't have to care what happens to this mudhole, only our objective. And that is you."

"Ach, he speaks for himself." A very visible warrior on the other side of the dragon man spoke up and waved one, meaty palm. He wore hulking golden armor, at least on his legs and on his shoulder. He wore fur pants and, aside from the huge lock sitting on his chest, holding in place black straps that ran to his back. He wore a golden, horned helmet, had two large spikes coming out of his bad and had shaggy hair a deep red coming out from under his helm. He too lacked a visible nose like the imp before him, but unlike said imp his bottom jaw seemed to be made of steel and a pair of scars sat firmly between his eyes just above his mouth, crossing over each other. For some reason, his pauldrons resembled treasure chests, though unlike the others he came unarmed. "If I had my way, I'd turn this place into a right maritime haven, I would. Increase trade, bring in the materials to rebuild. I'd even start fishin' fleets. Nothin' worse than goin' on with a rumbly tummy. Cannae have that with these folks. After all, besides one thing, they ain't done much wrong but protect their own from us. Me thinks their pure tenacity needs to be respected and appreciated."

"Of course you would, you bleeding heart." The demonic creature snarled.

"Bleedin' heart nothin'," The giant blinged out seaman retorted. "Just don't see the reason in making future comrades suffer just 'cause'a them doin' one bad thing, 'sall. We need all of us for what's tae come."

Rina smiled, taking in their words, their language. They hadn't said she was wrong. They, by not answering, had proved she was  _right._ "Okay so there was one thing done wrong. That seems weird, don't you think? I mean, I'm sure it was serious. But that one thing doesn't matter to the foot soldiers right? THey wanna fight for their bellies being full, for their homes, like you said." Rina twitched with nervous energy, smile getting wider. "I want to know why it's worth not fighting you. It really sounds like your friends would burn this land to cinders mister pirate man. I'm not okay with that. I don't think my friends are either. There is too much these people can do to right their wrong, surely."

"Wrong?"

Sayo had begun to move to the edge of the bed as if trying to see. Then she paused, turning to look at Taiga. Or to be more precise, next to him. All of Fergus' small furs were standing on end, blue eyes taut with rage. The other Digimon were all looking as well. Sashenka crept forward.

"Fergus." He kept his tone cautious. "Fergus, wait-"

 _"Shut it."_ The pup ignored his friend, ignored the flinch of reply. "Wrong? What did  _we_ do wrong? We're not the ones bombing cities of babies! We're not the ones who run through alleys with guns everywhere and blow up streets! We didn't do anything! You all just stumbled in here and decided everything was  _yours!_ " He stepped towards the door. The ring around the plotmon's neck had begun to glow. By the bed, Artemis waved her hands in some seeming gesture. Sashenka reluctantly obeyed whatever it meant, shoving the humans back against the wall as quickly as possible. Falcor made to help Yuugo do the same. Fergus didn't notice.  _"None of this world makes any sense anymore!"_

Fergus was positively thundering now. "But I know what to do with you! You took Dylas from us! You killed babies!" I can fight you for that! I can destroy you for that!  _And I will._ "

The Holy Ring exploded, golden light roaring from the small dog's body and into the air. The roof of the building flew off as Fergus himself shot into the sky. Everyone's attention was laser-focused on that until there was a very quiet thump and a noise of pain.

But what woke Taiga from his blank stare was none of that. It was the smell of blood as Sayo pulled her knife from Dorothy's other leg and with eyes glimmering amethyst, lunged for Rina's back and struck. Then the world came into sharp relief as the two of them crashed into the dirt and Rina sounded surprised.

"Wow," she said despite the weapon against her neck."You managed to cut through my skin. That's awesome. Even Taiga couldn't do that." she grabbed Sayo by her shirt and hauled her up. And there, right in full view for everyone to see, was a large slash on Rina's stomach.

It didn't bleed.

"But don't do it again, okay?" Rina smiled at her squirming form as she put her down. "I really am not good at sewing."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Starting to think I should just write horror and suspense for the rest of my life I enjoy it too much. At any rate, you all know the drill! Next chapter, what happened to Fergus? What just happened a line break ago? And seriously where are Koh and Mirei? All this and more when everything explodes! Please read and review, it really helps us out!


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